


Dancing in the Dark

by ThatFabKat



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Cat and Mouse, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/M, Hickeys, High School, Romance, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7429095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatFabKat/pseuds/ThatFabKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hickeys last about 7 days before they disappear. In those 7 days, I will look for a girl covered in my marks."</p><p>“Do you know how many girls there are in Paris? You actually think you can find me?” </p><p>“Of course. I already know you go to Francoise Dupont High School, love. It won’t be hard, trust me.”</p><p>“Wait… How do you know I go-“ </p><p>“You just told me.” </p><p>“Y-you!“ </p><p>“You can cover them with makeup, wear turtlenecks, wear scarves, and hide all you want. But in the end, I will find you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Party

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I already posted a couple chapters on Fanfiction.net and I decided to publish them on here to because why not? Couple quick things before you start reading.  
> 1\. Marinette is not obsessed with Adrien but she does have a small crush on him.  
> 2\. There are no superheros, akuma, or kwamis in this fic.  
> 3\. Mostly everyone is 17-18 years old unless stated otherwise.  
> 4\. This is T-rated but I might be changing it to M or posting a sex-scene as a separate one-shot. Whatever you guys want  
> That’s about all the things I could think of at the moment… I’m sure I’m missing some things (I always forget something). If you see any parts that make no sense whatsoever just dm me and I’ll fix it. Also dm me if you see any grammatical or punctuation errors so I can fix it.  
> Anyways enjoy the story!

 “Alya.”

 “Come o-”

 “No.”

 “Marinette just hear me ou-”

 “ALYA!”

 Marinette glares at Alya as she briskly walks past her and into her parent’s bakery, paying no heed to Alya’s pleas, “Mari! Wait dammit!”

 Marinette can’t believe her ears. For the past 2 hours, Alya has been trying to get Marinette to come with her to one Chloe Bourgeois’s famed parties. Marinette hates Chloe with every fiber of her being. Ever since Chloe met Marinette, she has been nothing but a complete bitch. She’s the cheerleader who slept with every single football player on the team; who sits at the “popular” table; who looks down upon those who are smaller than her. And in her eyes, Marinette is an molecule.

 She walks into the kitchen in her house and is opening a bag of chips when the bag is suddenly ripped out of her hands.

 “Hey,” she screams as she whips her head to find Alya holding the bag just out of her reach. Curse her short height.

 “Marinette please hear me out,” Alya pleads. Marinette reluctantly gives in.

 They walk up to Marinette’s room, after bidding her parents hello, and sit on her bed.

 “You see, Nino is DJing that night and he wants me to come listen to him. But I don’t want to go alone, which is why I was hoping you would come with me. Besides, when was the last time you went out and had fun?” Marinette opened her mouth to protest but Alya cut her off, ”This is our last year of high school and all you have done is stay cooped up in your room reading and drawing designs!” Marinette looks away at this. 

 She knows it’s true. She’s not the most popular girl at their high school but she’s not completely unknown. She’s on the track team and has her fair share of friends. She has average looks; wears glasses, puts hair in pigtails, and dresses in whatever’s comfortable. She’s more in the middle of the food-chain and she’s perfectly content with that.  

 Alya sighs, “I know you hate Chloe, I do too. But I need you to come.”

 Marinette would do anything for her friend. But going to Chloe’s party? That’s basically a taboo in high school. Chloe is considered the queen of Francoise Dupont High School. Marinette is a commoner. Queens don’t let commoners attend their parties.

 Marinette contemplates it, “Well….”

 “Please please pleeeaase Mari! It’s even going to be masquerade themed. So no one will know you were there,” Alya adds.

 A masquerade themed party? Ooh now that would be interesting.

 “Fine,” Marinette caves, “But only if you give me rides to school every morning for the rest of the year,” Marinette finishes. 

 “Every morning?! Do you know how much earlier I would have to wake up?” Alya wales.

 “Hey, it’s the only way I’ll agree to going,” Marinette snickers, thinking that she won and Alya would just drop this request. But Alya was having none of it.

 “Fine fine fine. I’ll give you rides,” Alya agrees. Marinette’s mouth hangs open. She didn’t think Alya would agree so quickly. Now she has to go. Great. Just great.

 “Oh and I forgot to mention but the party’s tonight!”

 “Wait! Wha-”

 “Oh! Look at the time. We must get ready! We only have a couple hours. And yes, you are still going. You already agreed,” Alya smirks, knowing what her friend was about to say.

 Marinette couldn’t believe what Alya did to her. But she guess she would’ve never agreed to going if it was tonight. Alya knows her too well.

 Marinette huffs, “But you never told me it was tonight! I need time to mentally prepare myself before I enter hell.”

 Alya barks out a laugh, “Sorry darling but it’s time to get ready!” Alya pulls a bunch of makeup, some hair-care items, and a single box out of her backpack.

 “How in the world did you fit all of that in that tiny bag?” Marinette always wondered how Alya can fit so much in such a tiny bag. She wouldn’t be surprised if Alya had a ship in there.

 “Magic. Now sit! Time to work my magic.”

 Marinette groaned. This is going take a long time.

* * *

 “Oh. My. God.”

 Marinette can’t recognize who the girl was that was staring back at her. This can’t be her. 

 “Somebody call the fire department because Mari you are on fire!” Alya joked.

 Marinette still couldn’t believe her eyes. Alya was right. She is hot. Her hair is down in loose beach waves. Her makeup consists of mascara, cat-like eyeliner, and bright red lipstick. The dress that she is wearing is a skin-tight black and red dress with black pumps. Lastly her mask is lace black and red.

 Alya was just as gorgeous as Marinette. Her hair is up in an elaborate ponytail. She’s wearing more of a loose black dress with dark purple pumps. She has on a smokey eye with dark purple lips. Lastly her mask was a dark purple and black lace with feathers on top.

 “If I was lesbian I would so tap that,” Alya snickers.

 “Alya! God I can’t believe I let you do this to me.”

 Marinette isn’t used to looking like this. Her go-to clothes are anything comfy. Sweatpants, sweatshirts, etc. She absolutely refuses to wear anything that isn’t comfy. Imagine the hell Alya had to go through to get Marinette to look like this. Especially when Alya had to take off Marinette’s glasses and put in contacts instead.

 Alya throws her arm around Marinette, “Mari, you’re gorgeous. Look at yourself! You’re like one of those cliche girls that turns looks ugly but turns beautiful once you remove the glasses and baggy clothing.”

 “Wow. Thanks Alya. That’s so nice of you to say,” Marinette sarcastically replies.

 “I know, right? Now quit being so nervous and lets go!”

 “Easy for you to say,” Marinette mumbled. Alya has always been the more confident one. Ever since they met back in grade school, Alya would always stand up for Marinette and get the both of them in trouble with her antics. Although, Marinette’s thankful for Alya. She doesn’t know what she would do without her.

 Alya grins wildly, not hearing what Marinette said. She grabs Marinette’s arm and drags her to her car.

 “Bye Mr. and Mrs. Cheng!!” Alya shouts.

 “Bye mom! Bye dad!” Marinette yells.

 Normal parents wouldn’t let their high school daughter go to the biggest party of the year at the middle of the night. But not Marinette’s parents. Hell, they even encouraged her when Alya told them where they were going to go. Marinette sometimes wonders how she’s related to them.

 “Bye darling! Have fun you two!” Marinette’s mother yells back from the kitchen.

 “Stay away from boys!” Marinette’s father warns.

 Ha! Marinette thinks grumpily. Like boys would even approach her.

 “Oh yes they will,” Alya smirks, reading her mind, “Maybe even Mr. Agreste,” she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

 Ah Adrien Agreste. He’s the King of the school. Every girl wants him, especially Chloe. Mostly because he’s a model and is very good looking. She practically throws herself at him. 

 Now, Marinette may have a crush on him. A very small crush! The reason is because he isn’t like the other populars. He isn’t snobby or rude like Chloe. He’s actually quite pleasant and a gentleman. Marinette has tried talking to him a few times but she always ends up stuttering like an idiot. She wouldn’t be surprised if he thought she was weird. He’s also the son of famed designer and CEO of Agreste Inc., Gabriel Agreste. Someone who Marinette looks up to. If you want to be a designer you must get Gabriel Agreste’s approval or else no one will consider using or working with your designs.

 Marinette pushes Alya’s face away, “Oh totally. Adrien, on a white stallion, will ride up to me, pull me up onto his horse, profess his love for me, and we will ride off into the sunset,” Marinette said sarcastically.

 “Hahaha. So funny,” Alya sighs, “But hey, maybe life has a surprise in store for you.”

* * *

The party was in full swing when they arrived. Anyone within 2 blocks of the party could hear the music blasting out of the club. Of course Chloe rented the biggest club in Paris just for a party. Nothing but this would satisfy her.

 Alya grins wildly, “Ready?!” She jumps out of her seat and pulls Marinette inside.

Marinette is most certainly not ready. In fact, she feels a little queasy. Oh why did she agree to coming here? She would rather be at home watching _Titanic_ or some other rom-com.

 When they enter, Alya shouts over the music, “Hey I’m gonna go find Nino! I’ll be back!”

 “Wait what?! Alya!” Marinette panics as she loses Alya somewhere in the huge crowd. She should’ve seen this coming. Of course Alya would leave her all alone. Great. This is just great.

 Marinette heads over to the bar to get a drink. As she’s walking through the crowd she feels many eyes on her. Or is it just her imagination?

 She squeezes through grinding bodies until she arrives at the bar. She looks up and sees the bartender also wearing a mask. Huh, when Alya said it was masquerade themed, she wasn’t kidding. She looks around as she sees everyone, even the workers wearing masks.

 “Can I have some water please?” she asks.

 Call her a prune or whatever but she isn’t a drinker. She’s had vodka once and it was terrible. She’s never going back there again.

 The bartender looked at her funny and said, “A water?” he snickers, “You sure?”

 Ok here we go again, “Yes, I’m sure. I would like a water. Just a water. No alcohol. Water. That’s it.”

 The bartender puts his hands up in mock surrender, “Alright alright. Sorry for being rude. I’m just surprised that someone actually wants water and not something with alcohol in it. I’m Copycat by the way. Nice to you meet you, pretty lady.”

 “Copy Cat?” _What kind of name is that?_ Marinette wonders.

 Copy Cat looks at her weirdly, “Yeah. Everyone is supposed to have another alias.” 

 He notices that the girl is completely lost so he explains, “This is a masquerade, yeah?” Marinette nods, “So nobody knows who anyone is, aside from whoever you came here with. So everyone is supposed to come up with another name for themselves. Another identity. Got it?” 

 “Yeah…” Marinette nods slowly, absorbing it all.

 Copy Cat grins at her as he asks, “So what’s you name? Or should I refer to you as pretty lady?”

 “No thank you, _Copycat,_ ” Marinette purrs, “You can call me… Ladybug.”

 Maybe Alya was right. This is her last year of high school and she should enjoy it. Why not let loose tonight? Why not be somebody completely different? Somebody confident, playful, and lucky. Ladybugs possess all said qualities, so the name sounds fitting. 

 “Well then _Ladybug,_ I must bid adieu. Come find me when the party’s over.”

 “We’ll see,” Marinette hums as the bartender reluctantly walks away to serve others.

 Holy shit.

 Did she just flirt? Did _she_ just _flirt_? She can’t believe she just did that. She can’t believe how easy that was. 

 “He just wants to get in your pants.”

 Marinette turns her head to see the most sexiest man she has ever seen. Clad in spandex, a black mask, cat ears on top of his head, a bell as his zipper, and my God is that a tail? He has that I-just-got-out-of-bed, blonde hair. The bell is pulled down so it reveals just enough skin and muscle to the imagination. Lord he is so hot. She can only gape as he smirks wickedly, “Like what you see, my lady?”

 And the spell is broken.

 “Excuse me? _My lady_? I’m most certainly not your lady,” Marinette bites out.

 “ _Meow_ ch. My lady wounds me. But you should be _claw_ ful with boys like that,” he warns trying to act serious but failing to do so. Those puns aren’t helping him either.

 “I can handle myself, thank you very much.”

 “I never said you couldn’t. I’m sure you can handle yourself _purr_ fectly well,” he drawls with the haughtiest smirk Marinette has ever seen.

 “Go away.”

 The boy grabs the drink of water from her hands and drinks it. But he doesn’t drink it the way any normal human being would. Oh no. He drinks it in such a way that would make any girl’s panties would drop.

 The boy glances up and notices a beautiful pink dust his lady’s cheeks. Ah she looks so adorable. Like a prey waiting to be eaten up, “Thank you, love. I feel quite refreshed.”

 Marinette can do nothing but sputter, “Wha? B-bu. Ah. Huh?” 

She then realizes that he was teasing her and quite happy for doing so, “Why you little _piece of shi-_ ”

 The boy quickly sticks the straw into Marinette’s mouth and leans down to her face as another blush stains her cheeks.

 “Ah ah aahh. Such words aren’t befitting for a lady such as yourself,” he whispers.

  _Is he going to kiss me? I barely know him! Push him away! But he’s so hot…. NO. STOP THAT MARINETTE. Push him away right now!_ Marinette’s head is in turmoil when he suddenly pulls back and looks down at her. Ah. There it is again. That big, shit-eating grin. Marinette suddenly has the biggest urge to beat the shit out of this cat.

 She pushes the water away, stands up, and pokes his chest as she says, “Listen here kitty,” the boy’s grin grows even wider when he hears her call him ‘kitty’, “you are one of the most annoying person I have had the displeasure of meeting. You will not treat me as if I’m some sort of toy. I am a human and I will be treated as such. So quit being such a _fucking asshole!”_

 The boy looks quite bewildered and, dare she say, guilty. It’s then Marinette realizes that she raised her voice and that she drew a crowd around them. It may be the adrenaline but she lashes out at the crowd, “Keep moving! Nothing to see here!” 

 Everyone shrugs it off and goes back to dancing, drinking, making out, or whatever the hell they were doing.

 “If I may ask-”

 “No you may not.”

 This guy is still talking to her? He sure is persistent, Marinette will give him that much.

 “Why is such a lovely lady, like yourself, alone?” The boy asks ignoring her.

 “I am not alone. I came here with a friend. ” 

 “Well it seems that your friend has left you,” Marinette snorts at this, “how about I fancy you a dance?”

 “How about no?” Marinette bites back

 “How about yes?” He retorts, his cocky attitude back in full force.

 “No.”

 "Yes.”

 “No.”

 “Yes.”

 “No.”

 “Yes.”

 “No.”

 “No.”

 “Yes.”

 Wait a minute…, “You tricked me!” Marinette belows.

 The cat laughs, “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

 “Why are you so persistent?” Marinette huffs.

 “Because there are many men that are staring at you and it’ll be easier on you if it looks like you’re already with someone, oui?” 

 “Why would you help me?” Marinette can’t think of a reason for this guy to help her. She just met him!

 “Consider it as an apology for my behavior earlier,” he says sincerely.

  _Should I believe him?_ Marinette contemplates. Well, he does have a point. Ever since Marinette entered here, she has felt many people stare at her. She doesn’t like them, they make her feel uncomfortable. It would be easier to pretend that she’s here with…, “Wait what’s your name?” she asks.

 “You may call me Chat Noir. What about you, princess?” he smoothly says.

 “L-Ladybug.” she stutter. _No! Don’t you dare stutter!_ Marinette scolds herself.

 Chat Noir grabs her hand and leads her to the dance floor, “Let’s dance, Ladybug.”

 For some reason, hearing her alias name coming from his mouth sent shivers down her spine. He’s too good-looking for his own good.

 If the dance floor was full before, it’s packed to the brim now. Now since Marinette never danced at a party like this before she had no idea what to do. She was awkwardly standing there, looking at the people around her. Everyone seemed to be in their element and dancing in a natural way. Well, except for the drunks. She looked over at Chat Noir to see him casually bobbing his head and swaying to the music. He looks so natural and Marinette looks so… unnatural. She was starting to regret this.

 “Relax. You’re too stiff. Loosen yourself and move to the beat of the music, love,” Chat whispers into her ear. Her legs feel a bit too much like jelly from that.

  _Lose yourself. Let the music take you,_ Marinette thought, _You’re Ladybug. Not Marinette. Let go._

  **On my waist, through my hair.**

**Think about it when you touch me there**

**Close my eyes, here you are all alone dancing in the dark.**

 Just like that Marinette felt the music wrap around her. She started moving her hips and legs. She looked at Chat Noir and had the strongest urge to be closer to him. Whether it’s because of the song choice, the people grinding against each other around her, or the atmosphere she didn’t care. So she turned, so her back was to him, and started very lightly moving her hips against his. She took satisfaction in seeing his eyes widen behind his mask.

  **Tell me baby if it's wrong**

**To let my hands do what they want?**

**Late at night I pretend we are**

**Dance dance dancing in the dark**

 Marinette feels his hands grab her waist and move with the music. All of her senses were hyper and could feel everything. It’s kind of like time slowed down. She sensed his eyes boring down at her. It made her feel self-conscious for a moment. Here she was flaunting herself at a boy she hardly knows. But those thoughts pass away when she feels him pull her closer to him so that they were flush against each other.

  **Dancing in the dark**

**Oh la la oh la la oh la la**

**Dancing in the dark**

 

**When you work on me,**

**Open my body up and do some surgery,**

**Now that you got me up**

 Marinette feels Chat Noir move his head down so it’s right by her ear and whispers the rest of the lyric, “ **I wanna taste it taste it**.” 

 Marinette would’ve collapsed if he wasn’t holding her up when he suddenly started nibbling her ear. Oh yes, he will taste it as much as he wants. His grip on her hips tighten when she grinds against him harder and more wildly.

  **And see those pocket aces.**

**I wanna see who you are.**

 

**I got a sex drive to push the start**

**I got a sex drive to push the start**

**I got a sex drive to push the start**

 At this point Marinette’s neck is wide open for Chat to indulge in. Marinette reaches behind her and puts both of her hands around Chat’s neck, “ **On my waist, through my hair,** ” she purrs into his ear, “ **Think about it when you touch me there.** ” 

 Chat groans and tries pulling her _closer closer closer,_ “Fuck.”

  **Close my eyes, here you are**

**Dance dance dancing in the dark!**

 

  **Oh la la oh la la oh la la**

**Dancing in the dark**

**Oh la la oh la la oh la la**

**Dancing in the dark**

 

  **I love to flirt to see.**

**I'm only talking to you if you wanna surf my seas.**

 “ **Now that you got me boy,”** she smirks, “ **You know you better spice it-”** she’s twirled around, by Chat Noir, until she’s face to face with him, “ **flavor it get it right; savor it**.”

 “My lady, you have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he growls out. 

 Ah revenge is sweet, isn’t it?

 

  **Wanna see who you are,**

**Got a sex drive to push the start**

**I got sex drive to push the start**

**I got a sex drive to push the start**

 

  **On my waist, through my hair.**

**Think about it when you touch me there.**

**Close my eyes, here you are (here you are)**

**All alone dancing in the dark.**

 “ **Tell me baby is it wrong?** ” Chat Noir pulls her flush against him. He caught onto what his lady was trying to do, which was working as much as he hated to admit. To can play at this game.

 “ **To let my hands do what they want** ,” his hands lower to cup her ass.

 “Chaaat! Ah!” she mewls.

  He can’t get enough of her. When she mewls he just wants to snap and devour her. Her lips are daring him to taste them. Her body is teasing the ever living hell out of him. And her eyes are begging him to take her.

 “ **Late at night I pretend we are. Dance dance dancing in the dark,** ” he growls. Wanting nothing more than to take her somewhere private, pin her against the wall, and kiss her until both of them are breathless.

  **Tell me baby if it’s wrong**

**Dancing in the dark**

**To let my hands do what they want.**

**Dancing in the dark! (it's the Cataracs)**

**Oh la la oh la la oh la la**

**Dancing in the dark**

**Oh la la oh la la oh la la**

**Dancing in the dark**

 When the song is done, Chat and Marinette are hot and bothered. There foreheads are against each other and they can’t stop staring at the other. Marinette shivers at the intense hunger in Chat’s eyes. Her face is flushed when he asks, “Who are you?”

 Should she tell him? She barely knows him. Besides, he might just be toying with her. He may be having a ball watching her squirm like this. But maybe he’s genuinely interested in her. Or at least in a quick makeout session.

 She opens her mouth when suddenly a voice booms out, “All welcome Ms. Chloe Bourgeois!”

 Herself and Chat turn to see her majesty come out, in all her sluttiness. Is that even a dress? It barely covers anything. She waves and looks at everyone as if they are her citizens.

 Marinette’s blood goes cold when Chloe’s eyes freeze on her and a smirk forms on her lips. And then Chloe blows _a kiss_ right at her.

 “I have to get out of here.” Marinette nervously lets out before she quickly maneuvers her way through the crowd and somewhere that’s anywhere but here. She has to get away.

 “Wait!” she hears distantly but she doesn’t stop. Chloe saw her and, somehow, she knows who she is.

 Marinette is so screwed.


	2. Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: at the end there's some sexy time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are amazing!! You guys have no idea how elated I read the reviews you guys leave me. You’re all too sweet. I LOVE YOU ALL ^3^  
> Quick thing i forgot to add on the previous chapter. Words in italics are Marinette’s thoughts.  
> Anyways enough of me yapping, Enjoy the story!!!
> 
> I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or anything else I use in this story.

_She saw me!_ Marinette internally screams as she dashes into a bathroom stall just in time for big fat tears to fall down her cheeks.

_This is not good. This not good at all. How did she find out it was me?! Did she see me with Chat Noir?! Great! Now she’s going to start a bunch of nasty rumors about me. WAIT! What if she knows Chat Noir and sent him to toy with me?! What if this is some sort of big ploy of hers to destroy my whole life?! Oh no. Oh no. OH N-_

“Marinette!”

Marinette’s internal screaming was cut off when she hears someone slam the door open and scream her name.

“It’s Alya! I saw you run in here. What’s wrong?” Alya worriedly asks. 

Alya was actually looking for Marinette. She felt guilty for leaving Marinette on her own. It’s just that she was so excited to see Nino DJing at one of the biggest events of the year. It was a great opportunity for him, after all the rejections he received from various other clubs. He even told her that the owner of the club liked him so much, that he might make Nino a regular DJ at the club! 

“Are you crying?” Alya asks when she hears sniffles, “Ok. Who do I have to kill? We will bathe in their blood.”

Marinette giggles when she hears that. Leave it to her best friend to cheer her up. Although, she’s still a bit mad at Alya for leaving her. But the more she thinks about it, she sees why Alya did it.

Marinette leans over to open up the door when she is sudden- _SPLASH!_

The moment Marinette opened the door she was tackled in a hug. But Alya didn’t realize that Marinette was right by the toilet so Marinette fell in the toilet.

“Oh my God. I am so so so sorry!! I can fix it!” Alya spurts out as she rushes Marinette to the hand dryer. She looks up when she sees Marinette with her head down, shaking.

“No no no. Please don’t cr-“ Alya doesn’t finish her sentence when she realizes Marinette’s not shaking because she’s crying. But that she’s shaking because she’s laughing.

“Uhh? Are you ok?” Alya tentatively asks.

Marinette can’t help but laugh harder at her friend’s expression. Alya is looking at Marinette as if she grew a second head. But soon enough, Alya also starts laughing.

They hear the bathroom door open, but they don’t care. They may look absolutely crazy but they’re together. Needless to say the door immediately shuts.

“Did you see that girl’s face?! She looked so scared!” Marinette laughs out.

“I should’ve taken a picture,” Alya barely makes out.

It take both girls a full 5 minutes before they stop laughing, 15 minutes for Marinette to tell Alya everything that happened (plus 5 minutes of squealing, courtesy of Alya) and another 10 minutes to finish drying off Marinette’s dress.

Once they’re done, Marinette suddenly feels nervous again. Not as much as before, but still a little. She feels Alya grab her hand, “Hey, we can leave right now if you want. We don’t have to stay. We can go back home, binge watch a bunch of movies, and stuff out faces with ice cream.”

Marinette feels a burst of warmth spread within her at her friend’s consideration. But it’s immediately diminished when sees a twinge of sadness in Alya’s eyes. She knows Alya wants to stay here and hang with Nino. But here she is, offering to leave her boyfriend’s first big gig just for Marinette. Marinette can’t do that to her. She’ll just have to suck it up and avoid the bitc- Oops. Meant Chloe.

"No it’s fin-“

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Alya cuts her off making Marinette blink in surprise.

“You are too selfless. Be selfish for once.”

“I’m selfless?! You’re selfless!” Marinette holds her hand up to stop Alya from whatever she was about to say, “I know how much this means to you. And I’m over hear ruining it.”

“You’re not ruining anything!” Alya interrupts.

“So we will stay and you will have the time of your life with Nino. Got it? Ok good,” Marinette says, not waiting for an answer.

Alya reluctantly gives in, “Fine… But what are you going to do for the rest of the night?” 

“I’m going to check this place out. It’s practically the size of a mansion. There must be something interesting here,” _And so Chloe won’t find me_ Marinette thinks.

“Now go find Nino! I’ll fix up myself up and leave in a couple minutes,” Marinette says pushing Alya towards the bathroom door.

“Alright alright. Remember, I always have my phone with me if you need anything. I’ll come faster than a bullet,” Alya winks before she leaves.

* * *

Marinette has come to the conclusion, although reluctantly, that she is lost.

When she left the bathroom she decided to go do some exploring. During her exploring she saw many interesting things. She saw people passed out on the ground, people having sex, and people doing dumb shit. Surprise, surprise. But something she noticed is that there are many hallways and floors in this place. Apparently there are a couple apartments above the club. Marinette doesn’t want to think about how much it must cost to live in of them, judging by the size of them.

She must’ve walked off a bit too far because before she knew it, she was lost in the maze. She tried retracing her steps and asking for directions (which ended in some random girl passing out on Marinette) but ended up walking in a big circle in the end.

“Maybe I should call Alya,” she mumbled to herself. 

She pulls out her phone and dials Alya’s number. She calls her 3 times without any answer. _Of course._

“Faster than a bullet my ass,” she glowers before she shoves the phone back through her bra strap and continues walking.

Marinette is actually quite impressed with this place. It’s more of a palace than it is a club. There’s no surprise Chloe chose this place for the party. She always rents out the best places in palaces to throw meaningless parties. There’s no reason for her to throw the parties. She only hosts them to show people how rich, popular, and perfect she is, since she’s the mayor of Paris’s daughter. She makes them invite so only the “popular kids” can attend. But many people without an invite sneak in anyways. Since this party is masquerade themed, it makes sneaking in much easier. Oh and take a wild guess on whether or not Alya and Marinette were invited. 

Now believe it or not but Marinette and Chloe used to be good friends back in grade school. They would do a lot of fun stuff together and always get into trouble with Alya. But once High school rolled along, as cliche as it sounds, Chloe started to change. She started doing bad things, hanging with the popular kids, and putting Marinette down. It was a dark time for Marinette because one of her closest friend left her. Luckily many of her other friends helped her back up on her feet. She eventually grew a backbone from spending time with others and started sticking up for herself against Chloe. They’ve been enemies ever since.

_BAM!_

“Owww,” Marinette moans. Leave it to her to walk straight into a wall.

She looks up to see that she’s in a hallway that leads to an elevator that takes people back down to the dance floor. She must’ve not been paying attention to realize she walked back to the main area. 

_Maybe I should try findi- DING!_

Her thoughts are cut off when she hears the elevator arrive onto the floor she’s on. It’s as if everything happens in slow motion when she looks over at the elevator door opening to reveal Chloe in all her glory.

Oh shit.

“Oh! Hey, darling! I’m Chloe, the host of this party,” Chloe sweetly says.

“O-oh hi,” Marinette waves slightly as she starts sweating a bit. 

“Are you enjoying the party so far?” Chloe asks in that sugary tone of hers as she starts walking straight to Marinette.

Marinette feels herself tense up as Chloe stops less than a few feet away from her.

“Uh.. It’s great,” Marinette manages out. _Act natural! She may have forgotten about you!_ she prays.

“That’s wonderful! I can’t believe so many people are sneaking in though,” she pouts“Oh well! I’ll make sure daddy throws all of them in jail for the rest of the miserable lives!” _shit shit shit shit,_ “Oh! I’m sorry but I don’t seem to recognize you. What’s your name?” Chloe asks innocently. But Marinette can see through that fake act. She can see the real demon inside.

“Uh.. I-It’s er..,” she stutters. _What was that? Enough with the stuttering! You’re Ladybug so act like it!_ Marinette scolds.

“I’m Ladybug,” she says with as much confidence as she muster.

“No no, darling. I meant you’re real name,” Chloe smirks slightly.

“This is a masquerade party. You’re not supposed to tell people who you really are,” Marinette says smoothly. Surprising herself and even Chloe with how coolly she said that.

“Well I already told you mine,” Chloe says as she starts moving closer, “it’s only fair that you tell me yours.”

Aaand that confidence that Marinette felt just moments ago is gone.

“N-no it’s not.”

Is it Marinette’s imagination or did Chloe’s eyes just flash?

“Oh? And why not? It’s my party,” she purrs as she wraps her arm around Marinette’s shoulder, “I deserve to know who attends it, oui?”

Marinette’s tenses up when she feels Chloe’s hand grip her shoulder like a vice.

Marinettte doesn’t know what to do. She can’t get out of this situation. Chloe will find out who she is and make her pay. Whether it be her social life or her actual life.

“Come on,” she purrs, “Tell me who you are. Or should I remove that mask of yours?” 

Everything around Marinette seems to freeze. Her instincts screaming at her to get the hell _out of here_. But she can’t. She’s frozen on the spot.

“No name? Alright,” Marinette can see the evil in Chloe’s eyes, “Then I’ll just take the mask off.”

It all seems to happen in slow motion as Chloe reaches over to lift the mask off of Marinette’s face.

_RIIIIIING!!!_

“Ugh, hold on,” Chloe grumbles as she retracts the hand to pull out her phone.

Marinette isn’t a a very religious person but in that moment she thanks all the saints, Gods, stars, spiritual entities, and religious entities she can think of. 

“Yeah. Uh huh. Wait. What?! That bitch! I’m coming over there right now!” she screeches as she runs down some hallway and leaves Marinette.

Once Chloe’s out of sight Marinette sinks down to her knees. _That was far too close_ she thinks.She needs to get out of here, right now. She can’t stay here anymore. She has to get out.

Her hands shake as she pulls out her phone and shoots Alya text saying that she’ll take a taxi back home. She stands up and tries to find an exit. She runs down a hallway when she suddenly bumps into someone.

“Ow!” Marinette squeaks as she feels like she’s about to fall. An arm shoots out to catch her just in time.

“It’s you,” she hears whispered in her ear. She turns her head to find Chat Noir looking down at her. She thinks she would rather be with Chloe than him.

Her faces erupts in a blush when she remembers the night’s past events and how she…. Oh God she danced with a complete stranger! She didn’t have time to think about what happened between them because she was dealing with Chloe. Although, she gave Alya a brief description of what happened. But it immediately left her mind once she was finished. Now that she sees him again, the events slam her. She can’t believe she actually danc- No, it wasn’t dancing. Oh no. Grinding. Grinding is what it was. She can’t believe she _grinded_ with a boy whom she barely knows. 

 _I bet my water was spiked with some sort of alcohol. Or else I wouldn't be having these thoughts_ Marinette concludes.

“A-ah! It’s you!” she let’s out as she quickly escapes from his hold.

“That was quite the exit you made there, my lady.” And out comes his cockiness.

“Yeah well I just needed some fresh air.”

“Then why did you run in the opposite direction of the exit?” he smirks, catching onto her lie.

“Uhh,” _think of something quick,_ “weellll this place is huge. There are many exits around here,” she smoothly lied.

“But if you were in such a rush to get fresh air, wouldn’t you want to go to the nearest exit?” 

Dammit. He got her there.

“I just had to get out, ok?!” Marinette snaps

Chat holds his hands up, “Alright alright. No need to have a,” he wiggles his eyebrows, “ _cat_ itude.”

What is with this guy and cat puns? Marinette has never met someone who made so many cat puns. Puns, sure. But cat puns, specifically? No.

“I’m leaving,” Marinette deadpans.

A hand flashes out to rap her wrist as she hears him say, “Wait!”

“Yes?” she asks a bit confused. 

“U-um… I was w-wondering… err,” he stutters.

Marinette stares at him incredulously. What happened to the suave Chat Noir she saw earlier? Where did all the pizzazz go?

He clears his throat and seems to gather himself before he asks, “Who are you?”

Marinette stiffens, “I’m not telling you who I am. This is a masquerade themed party.” She flinches when his face breaks out into a big smirk. Great the old Chat is back.

“How about we play a little game, my lady?” he purrs. The way he says it practically screams danger. But Marinette disregards the warnings. There’s no way in hell she’s going to appear weak in front of him and show him that he’s getting to her. She also wants to knock the smirk right off his face. It’s really starting to getting on her nerves. That, and she may be a bit, just at tad bit, curious. 

“What’s the game?” she bites out. 

She glares when she sees his smirk widen. How much trouble will she get in if she punches him?

“This is a 10 story building,” he points to the ceiling, “Whoever gets to the top first wins.”

 _It doesn’t sound too challenging… In fact it sounds too easy…_ Marinette thinks suspiciously. She’s prepared to reject the foolish challenge when she hears him snort, “What? Are you too scared? I thought you were better than that.”

 _Oh hell no._ He did not just say that. Marinette can’t believe him! She glares at him. He looks laid back and relaxed as if he were talking about the weather. As if he thinks he’ll beat her, no problem. Well she isn’t going to go down without a fight. Oh she’s gonna show him. She grabs him by his bell and pulls him in so he’s centimeters from her face. She takes glee at seeing his face morph in surprise. “Oh? You think I’m scared? Well you should be the one who’s scared. You actually think you can beat me? Ha! I’d love to see you try.”

Marinette loves the way he sputters, “If I win, you leave me alone and don’t try to find out who I am. If you win… well, you’ll decide.”

Chat regains his composure. He grabs her chin and pulls it up toward his face. But she doesn’t back down. She meets his eyes with fierceness. He breathes, “Deal.”

Marinette feels herself sway as Chat moves closer. _I should stop him. I can’t let him kiss me, I barely know him!_ Marinette thinks. But she doesn’t push him away. She stands there in shock and… anticipation? 

“See ya at the top, bugaboo,” he snickers as he dashes away, leaving Marinette standing there in shock. 

It takes her a full 10 seconds before she realizes that Chat tricked her and has a head start. It takes her another 10 seconds to move her legs. Marinette sprints to the elevator and bashes the up arrow. She eventually grows impatient and runs down the hallway Chat ran down. She finds a flight of stairs and slams the door open. But her gut fills with dread to see how many stairs there are that lead to the upmost floor. By the time she reaches the top she’s out-of-breath and heaving her lungs out. 

“You bastard! That was not fair!” Marinette screams as she bangs the door open to find a dimly lit corridor, but no Chat. _Did I win?!_ She slowly walks down the corridor, calling Chat’s name. He had a large head start so she assumed he would already be up here. 

“Didn’t anyone tell you that cats are light on their feet?” Marinette jumps back when she feels Chat’s breath by her ear.

“Chat! You scared me!” Marinette exclaims, staring at Chat with wide eyes.

“Forgive me, my lady. I meant no harm. Are you alright?” he asks, eyes studying her.

She nodded stiffly, squinting her eyes to try and see him. But manages to spot a faint outline. He’s camouflaged in the shadows. 

“Good. Well, it seems like I have won.” He starts sauntering over to her.

“T-that wasn’t a fair win. You cheated!” Marinette stutters, avoiding his eyes. Well, where she thinks his eyes are.

“All’s fair in love and war.” He’s wearing the biggest smirk Marinette has seen all night and walking like a predator about to eat his prey. 

“L-love?!“ Marinette sputters, starting to back away as Chat starts getting too close.

“Since I won, I think I’ll be collecting my prize,” he purrs, ignoring her.

“Wha-“ she doesn’t have a chance to finish before he slams her against the wall and pins her arms above her head. 

“H-hey…! What are you doing?” Marinette demands as she puts her hands on his chest, but doesn’t push him away. She feels her body heat up when she feels the ridges of his muscles. In that moment, she thanks the heavens for creating spandex.

“You said I can decide what I want, if I win,” _shit, I forgot. No wonder he was so quick to agree_. “I want a kiss,” _Oh God Oh God Oh God._ “But if you don’t want to kiss, then we won’t. I will never force myself upon a lady. So will you grant this alley cat a kiss?” 

Marinette could do nothing but slightly nod her head. In slow motion, he bent toward her and brushed his lips against hers. A weak gasp escaped her as she stiffens, but he couldn’t relent. Once, twice, until he realizes he will never have enough. The taste of her lips was far more than he bargained for, and he drew her close with a raspy groan. 

“God, help me,” he murmurs. He cups the back of her neck and kisses her deeply, gently, possessively. His persistent mouth parting her trembling lips, sending wild tremors through her and to her very core. His tongue entering her mouth, desperate to explore. A faint moan escaped her lips and all resistance fled, burned away by the heat of his touch.

They were kissing like crazy. Drinking each other’s grunts and moans, wanting to bottle it up and listen to it on repeat. Eating each other’s lips, as if the other’s was the finest cuisine. But it wasn’t enough. They wanted more more more.

She lets out a whine when she feels his mouth leave her lips. “Ladybug.” She hears in her ear before he nibbles the soft flesh of her ear. She’s moans once again when she feels his mouth move onto her neck. His mouth roams at will, no longer gentle as he devours her. He is ravenous against the smooth curve of her throat. His hands now running all over her back, keeping her flush against him. Her hands move to grip his hair to steady herself. She knows if he wasn’t holding her up, her legs would’ve given away a long time ago and she would be a puddle on the ground. 

It ends all too quickly in Marinette’s opinion. Chat pulls back, albeit reluctantly, and rests his forehead against hers. They don’t say anything for a while, mostly because they’re trying to catch their breathe. 

Chat pulls back to look at her, having been the first to snap out of it. He traces the marks, **his** marks, that he left on her neck. “This is how I’ll find you.”

Marinette blinks. It takes her a couple seconds to realize what he did. “You… left these marks on me on purpose?! ” she screams as she pushes him away. “You bastard!”

“Hickeys last about 7 days before they disappear. In those 7 days, I will look for a girl covered in **my** marks,” he states.

“Do you know how many girls there are in Paris? You actually think you can find me?” Marinette tries swaying him.

“Of course. I already know you go to Francoise Dupont High School, love. It won’t be hard, trust me.” _Huh? How does he know what high school I go to?_

“Wait… How do you know I go-“ _Crap. He doesn’t._

Chat smirks. “You just told me.” 

“Y-you!“ 

Chat starts backing up towards the staircase. “You can cover them with makeup, wear turtlenecks, wear scarves, and hide all you want. But in the end, I will find you.”

And he’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it hot in here? Or is it just me? Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I hope you all have a great day, lovelies :D


	3. Day 1 Monday

**RING RING RI-**

Groggily, Marinette shuts off her alarm. She gets out of bed and walks into the bathroom, grumbling about not wanting to go to school.

She turns on her bathroom lights, faces the mirror, and is suddenly flooded with the previous night’s events. The masks. Chat Noir. The dancing. The kissing. The heat. The marks. How dumb it was of Chloe to throw the party on a Sunday night.

She gingerly touches the marks he left along her collarbone, which won’t be too hard to cover up. But there is one very high on her neck and very purple. _That damn cat. How dare he leave all of these marks on my neck? And he’ll find me in 7 days? Ha. Yeah, right. He probably forgot about it already._

But she can’t help but start to feel hot all over as the other memories seep in. The ones where they danced and kissed. She shakes her head to rid those thoughts. _NO! Stop thinking about those Marinette! You are better than this!_

She takes a quick shower before she tries to cover up the marks with makeup. She only manages to completely hide the less pink ones. The more darker ones are still visible. She even tries using her mom’s makeup before she gives up and puts on a turtleneck, as horrendous as it is. Good thing is that she isn’t worried about hiding them or Chat Noir.

What she is worried about, however, is Chloe. She prays she won’t encounter her that day. Or any other day for the rest of her life.

Luckily, it’s a new semester at school. So hopefully, they won’t have any classes together.

" _You can cover them with makeup, wear turtlenecks, wear scarves, and hide all you want. But in the end, I will find you.”_ she suddenly remembers and blushes madly. She quickly dismisses the memory and reminds herself that he probably forgot everything that happened between them. For some reason, her heart twists at the thought that he forgot. She doesn’t understand why, when she barely knew him.

She shakes her head, quickly finishes getting ready, and heads off for school.

* * *

Once she arrives to school, she is immediately tackled by Alya. “Girl! What happened to you last night? I kept calling you but never picked up. How rude. And what in the world are you wearing?,” she exclaims.

“Reasons. Rude? Remember, _I always have my phone with me if you need anything. I’ll come faster than a bullet_?” Marinette mimics in her best Alya impersonation.

“Ohhh yeah, heh. Oops?” Alya chuckles nervously.

“Yeah. Oops. But I am sorry for making you worried. I took a taxi home,” Marinette explains.

“Why take a taxi? You could’ve waited for me,” Alya says, looking the tiniest bit offended.

Marinette looks around them to check if there aren’t too many people around or if anyone’s listening in. “Because… Remember how I told you about Chat?”

Alya’s face lights up like a christmas tree. “Yessssss. What about him?” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“Promise you won’t freak out or scream?”

“I promise,” Alya swears. But Marinette has a feeling that’ll she’ll scream anyways.

She looks around them to double check before leaning in and whispering, “Ok remember Chat?” She slaps a hand over Alya’s mouth seeing as how she was about to scream.

 “SHHHHH!!!!!” Alya’s eyes are squinted and Marinette just knows that Alya is smirking gleefully.

“I won’t tell you if you scream!!” Marinette warns. Alya nods her head. Marinette slowly removes her hand from Alya’s mouth and decides to continue when she sees Alya give no sign of screaming.

“So we placed a bet, he won, and we kinda maybe sorta made out,” Marinette mumbles. She slaps her mouth over Alya’s mouth again when she sees her ready to scream.

“I told you not to scream!” Marinette glares. Alya even has the gall to look sheepish.

Marinette slowly removes her hand when Alya seems to have calmed down. Wrong move. Alya instantly screams her head off, attracting the attention of passerbys.

Marinette chuckles embarrassed, punching Alya’s arm. “Ow!”

“Haha. Don’t mind us. Keep going about your day,” Marinette says. They look at the two weirdly but keep on walking.

“Alya! What the hell was that?!” Marinette hisses before turning around and walking to her first class, Health. She regrets not taking it her 10th year of high school.

“Hey! Wait up!” Alya runs to catch up.

“How do you expect me to not scream? You made out-“

“Shh!”

“With an extremely hot guy and-“ Alya cuts herself off when she notices something.

Marinette turns to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

Alya quickly grabs her wrist and beelines to the bathroom. Once in side, she checks to make sure all the stalls are empty before whipping out and asking, “Are those hickeys?”

Marinette’s face heats up. “Yeah….”

“Oh my God. So you are the girl!” Alya exclaims.

Marinette stares at her confused. “What girl?”

Alya stares at Marinette as if she just landed here on a spaceship. “Have you not seen the posters?”

“What post- Wait a minute…” Marinette and Alya leave the bathroom and see the hallways full of posters. Almost everyone seems to be starring at them. All of them have a picture of a girl, leaving the party, with hickeys in the exact same spots Marinette has her’s. They have **“WHO IS LADYBUG?”** stamped in big, bold letters. There’s even a very small note at the bottom.

_Don’t think I forgot about last night. I will find you, my lady._

“I never knew your alternative name at the party, so I wasn’t sure if it was you. But those hickeys prove everything!” Alya is practically jumping off the walls at her new revelation.

“He remembers…” Marinette mumbles.

“Oh my God!! I can’t believe it!” Marinette doesn’t understand why Alya is so happy. This is a very, very bad thing.

“This is not good…”

“We have to find out who he is!”

“No!” Marinette immediately denies. “He can never find out who I am!”

Alya looks at Marinette, muddled. “Why? What if he feels something for-“

“Ladybug,” Marinette finishes. Of course he would like Ladybug. She’s the complete opposite of Marinette. She is beautiful, doesn’t wear glasses, is confident, etc. He’s probably just blinded by Ladybug’s pizzazz. There’s no way Chat Noir would like plain, awkward Marinette. He would never consider looking inside of her to find who she truly is.

Alya puts a sympathetic hand on Marinette’s shoulder, catching onto what she was implying. “Maybe he would be interested in you?”

Marinette snorts. “I doubt that.”

**_BRIIIINNNNG_ **

Alya waves her hands as if dismissing the dark thoughts. “Forget I said anything. Go to class. I’ll see you during lunch,” she says before hugging Marinette.

Marinette returns the hug. “Bye, Alya.”

She walks into class to see **SEX** written across the board. _Greaaaat._ She sits at her usual seat, in the middleish, backish of the class so she can do her own thing but still pay attention to the lesson.

“Alright sit down! Time to get this show on the rode.” The health teach, Ms. McKlain shouts. She’s one of those really tough, badass teachers who aren’t afraid to put students in their place. Although she’s really nice and funny if you’re on her good side. (AN: this is legit based off of the health teacher I had last year, in high school)

Everyone stops talking once they hear her. Well, all except one. Kim. Kim is your typical high school, american football playing, jock.

“Mr. Cark, sit down,” the teacher demands.

“Nah, I don’t really feel like it.” Kim and his friends laugh.

“My apologies, Cark. Zip up your pants, sit down, and shut up.” The class breaks out into giggles.

Kim’s face heats up as he sits down, mumbling under his breathe.

“What was that Cark?” Ms. McKlain glares.

“Y-yes, ma’am” Kim stutters. He glares at his friends when they punch him in the arms.

They hear the door whip open. “Sorry I’m late!” In walks Adrien Agreste, in all of his glory. Marinette turns her head, as does the rest of the class. Marinette wonders if he suddenly got hotter over the weekend. Or is it her imagination? Marinette may not like him, but she appreciates a good-looking guy when she sees one. Ok maybe she likes him a little bit. But only a bit! It’s so tiny, it’s microscopic. _Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that_ , she could hear Alya teasing her. 

He fist bumps Kim and the rest of his friends, before sitting by a guy whose name Marinette forgot. All of them sitting somewhere behind her. She whips her head back to the front of the class when he makes eye-contact with her.

“Well, look who decided to join us,” the teacher says.

Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “Ah, sorry about that Ms. McKlain. I overslept.” He nervously laughs.

“Uh huh.” The teacher looks at his suspiciously, clearly not buying it. But brushes it off. “Alright time to start…”

* * *

Once the bell rings, everyone rushes out of the class room. All except Adrien, who takes a little extra time to pack his stuff up.

“Marinette? May I please see you for a second?” Ms. McKlain calls out before Marinette walks out the door.

“Yeah?” Marinette asks, walking up to her desk.

“I know how you’re an A+ student. So I was hoping you would tutor another student?” Marinette wants to say no. But the look Ms. McKlain gives her, shows that she won’t take no for an answer.

Marinette awkwardly says, “Um, yeah. I guess?”

Ms. McKlain claps her hands. “Perfect! Adrien come over here!”

Marinette stiffens when she feels Adrien walk up beside her. “Yes?”

“Meet your new tutor, Marinette. Marinette, meet the one whom you’ll tutor.” She introduces them.

Adrien turns to give her a bright smile. “Hey!”

Marinette feels her cheeks heat up a bit. “H-hi.” She gives a small wave.

“Alright, here are some passes to both of your next classes.” She hands them a tiny slip.

“Thank you. Goodbye, madam.” Adrien thanks. Marinette waves goodbye as they walk out of class. They notice that they’re the only ones in the halls, since everyone else is already in class. Well, almost everyone. Minus the delinquents.

After a few moments, Adrien breathes a sigh of relief. “You have no idea how thankful I am that you’re my partner. I was praying I wouldn’t get someone stuck up or rude. Luckily, I got you!” Adrien smiles. Marinette has no idea how she has not melted into a puddle yet.

“A-ah, yeah. Whoopee.” Marinette does a little twirl with her her finger.

Adrien chuckles before making a face as if he just remembered something. “Oh! I forgot! Thank you so much for agreeing to help me! I know we don’t know each other very well, but this’ll be an opportunity to get to know each other better.”

“Oh! It’s no big deal. I’m glad to help.” She smiles. Marinette internally pats herself on the back for not stuttering.

Adrien seems to make a strange expression before it’s gone in the blink of an eye. Marinette doesn’t catch it. 

“So when do you want to meet up? I’m free tomorrow after school, Friday after school, and, depending on the time, Saturday and Sunday. What about you?” he asks.

“Ummm, I know I’m free tomorrow after school, so we can meet then. But I don’t know about the other days. I’ll tell you tomorrow after I ask my parents if they have anything planned for me.”

“How about I just give you my number and you text me later today if you’ll be free then?” Adrien calmly asks. Marinette, on the other hand, has to keep herself from freaking out.

“Y-yeah!” _Shit. Here we go back to the stuttering. Great job, Marinette._ She reaches into her back pocket and taps and swipes a couple times before handing it over to Adrien.

He quickly types in his number and hands it back to her. _Holy hell. I have Adrien Agreste’s phone number._

“Th-thanks.”

Adrien seems to stare at her for a while, Marinette growing uncomfortable under his intense gaze, before saying, “You’re cute.”

_Hoooollllllyyyy shiiiiittttttttt. THIS BOY IS TRYING TO KILL ME._

Adrien smiles, as if he never just said what he just said. “Well, here’s your class.” She hasn’t even noticed they were heading toward her class or that they arrived.

“Y-yeah,” Marinette replies, still a bit shaken from that earlier comment.

He turns to leave and she’s about to enter her class when she hears, “See you later, Marinette!” 

And he’s gone. (AN: Sound familiar???)

* * *

The rest of her classes, before lunch, were the longest classes of her life. It’s not that they were boring or that she didn’t have any friends in them, in fact she has quite a bit of friends in her classes. It’s because everyone keeps starring at her, whispering behind hands, glaring (mostly done by girls), and pointing at her. All because Adrien walked her to class and he NEVER does that to anyone. Not to Chloe. Not to his friends. Not to other girls. No one. The fact that he walked Marinette, an average, to class is mind-boggling for everyone.

By lunch, it seems everyone forgot about the mysterious Ladybug and switched their attention to the new, better topic. Adrien Agreste walking Marinette Dupain-Cheng to her 2nd hour class.

When Marinette finishes getting her food and exits the kitchen, she is immediately confronted by Alya. 

“What is this I hear about Adrien Agreste walking you to class?!” Alya whisper-screams.

Marinette sighs. “Oh my God. It isn’t a big deal.” But Alya doesn’t relent. 

When they arrive to their lunch table, Marinette is again confronted by Alix, Mylene, Juleka, and Rose.

“Dude! Did Adrien Agreste seriously walk you to class?!” Alix demands. She feels everyone at their table stare at her, silently demanding answers. Hell she even sees the people around her stop eating and lean in, wanting to hear what Marinette has to say.

Marinette glares at them and they turn there attention back to their food and their whispering.

Marinette motions for them to huddle. “Ok I don’t even know if he walked me to class. We were kind of walking and arrived at my classroom. I didn’t even realize we were walking there until we actually got there. Then he left to go to his own class. That’s it.”

“So he did or didn’t? There is no in-between,” Alix bluntly says.

“Wait. When he left, did he go the opposite direction you guys were originally walking or the same?” Mylene asks.

“Opposite.”

“Then he was walking you to class,” Juleka mumbles.

“He might’ve accidentally passed his class!” Marinette defends.

“But how did he know what class you have?” Mylene asks again.

“Uhh…” Marinette didn’t think of that. _Crap. How did he know?_

“Case-closed. Adrien walked you to class.” Alya silently whoops.

“Wait a minute… You two barely know each other. So why were you guys together in the first place?” Rose questions.

The 5 of them stare at Marinette, who is fiddling with her glasses.

“Marinette. Explain. Now,” Alix demands.

Marinette slumps and burries her head in her arms, before slightly lifting a very red face. “Ms. McKlain assigned me to be his tutor. So we were talking about times to meet up, outside of school, and… he gave me my number.”

Alix and Alya slap Marinette on the back before hollering out loud to the whole, damn cafeteria, “You go, girl!”

Everyone in the whole, damn cafeteria turns their heads to face the 6 if them.

Rose an Mylene laugh nervously. “Nothing to see here! Haha. You can go back to what you were doing!”

Everyone turns back their heads and start whispering to each other. Honestly, Marinette is pretty sick of all the whispering.

“I can’t believe you two just did that!” Marinette whisper-shouts before burying her face in her hands. She peaks in-between her fingers to look at Adrien’s table. Sure enough, he’s starring right at her. This just makes her blush even more.

The 5 of them laugh at Marinette’s misery. “We did it because we love you,” Juleka coos.

“Well I really feel the love. Maybe a bit too much. How about loving me a little less?” Marinette, sarcastically, replies.

“How about instead we continue to tease the ever-living hell out of you.” Alya smiles innocently.

Marinette grumbles, “Bastards…”

“We love you too!” Rose chides.

Alya coughs. “Why don’t you tell them what happened last night and how they correlate to the posters all around school.”

Marinette groans. _This is going to be a long lunch._

* * *

Luckily, it’s the last class of the day for Marinette. Double luckily for her, Alix is in her  class. Unluckily for her, it’s gym. Doubly unluckily for her, Chloe is in her class. 

 All Marinette wanted was a quick gym class, but that would be impossible with Chloe in her class. Thank the heavens that Alix is in her class too.

But as the teacher is introducing everyone and yells at everyone to start running laps, Chloe just smirks at Marinette. That’s it. Nothing else. The silence from her unnerves Marinette. Now that she thinks about it, she hasn’t seen Chloe all day. She would think Chloe would use the fact that she knows Marinette is Ladybug against her. She must’ve seen the posters all around school. So why isn’t she using it to her advantage? 

For the rest of class Chloe doesn’t even look at Marinette. She just talks to her bitchy friends and flirts with all the cute boys in the class.

_Maybe she doesn’t know I’m Ladybug…?_

* * *

5 minutes before the bell rings, the class is trying to decide on what fundraiser event they want to do. Each gym class, in the school, has to participate in it, this Saturday. Most, if not all, of the students groan when they hear that everyone has to do it. But their interest is piqued when the gym teacher says that the winning gym class will earn $1000 for the students to split amongst themselves.

“How about a car wash?!” someone shouts. This seems to get people’s attention. Everyone but Marinette. Saturday is in a couple days that are less than 7. So the hickeys will still be visible, albeit not as pronounced. But Marinette wouldn’t be able to wear a turtleneck or scare without looking suspicious. Makeup also won’t work because the water would just wash it off. Marinette prays to all the religious entities she knows, in the moment, that the class won’t agree to a car wash.

Sadly, luck isn’t on Marinette’s side. The class seems to be intrigued by the idea and open to doing it. 

The gym teacher looks around the class. “Are we doing a car wash then?”

The class choruses with a, “Yeah!”

Marinette feels a small part of her die inside. She’s even more so screwed. Great. Just great.

Once gym is done, Marinette is ready to go into her room, forget all her worries, and design the night away.

She goes to her locker to pick her jacket up and sees a piece of paper fall out of the locker. She bends down to pick it up and nearly passes out when she reads what’s inside.

_I know who you are._

_~Chat Noir_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DUUNNNN!!!


	4. Day 2 Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to add a little bit of angst because why not??
> 
> Enjoy~

“Oh my God. Look. It’s a ghost.”

 

“Huh, you’re right. What should we do?”

 

“Kill it.”

 

“But… it’s already dead.”

 

“Oh yeah. How abou-“

 

“I can you hear you two!” Marinette shouts at Juleka and Alix as she whips her head to glare at them and tightens the scarf around her neck. 

 

“Juleka! The ghost has seen us! It’s gonna kill us!” Alix dramatically exclaims as she points at Marinette.

 

“Haha. Very funny.” Marinette rolls her eyes and goes back to typing up an essay for English. She has been in the library, waiting for the bell to ring so she can go to class. 

 

Now, Marinette isn’t one who usually arrives at school early. It’s just that, last night she barely got a wink of sleep. The note she received in her locker has been replaying over and over again like a broken record in her head since she read it. The moment she read it yesterday, she decided to skip track and run as fast as she could home so she can panic in private. Millions of questions raced through her head as to how Chat Noir found out who she is. She was sure to cover up every mark and make sure nobody saw it. She even went an extra mile and wore the damned turtle neck to gym class, incase Chat was in that class too. 

 

She continued to panic all throughout the afternoon until she remember she had to text Adrien about when she was free. After her parents told her that they didn’t have plans that week and she talked to her coach about any upcoming meets, she found out that she was conveniently free the days Adrien was free. Woopdeedoo.

 

It took Marinette a full 10 minutes and some pep talk before she finally texted him when they should meet up. He didn’t reply until a couple hours later saying, ‘Perfect! Meet me at my house (address is 1234 Random Street) at 4. See you tomorrow <3’

 

Marinette then threw the phone across the room after reading the, ‘<3’

 

The heart and Chat’s note were the reasons why Marinette barely got any sleep last night and had her tossing and turning. At around 6 am, she said, “Screw it,” and went to get ready for school.

 

Juleka and Alix pull up chairs and sit with Marinette. 

 

“Well you can’t blame us. You look like absolute shit,” Alix explained.

 

Marinette glares at Alix. “Wow. Thanks. You’re so sweet.”

 

Juleka mumbles, “It’s true, though. That and you’re here extremely early.”

 

Marinette throws her hands up in the air. “Well I barely got any sleep last night because of that stupid note and that God’s damned heart!”

 

“Woah, woah, woah.” Alix looks around to make sure nobody is listening, even though they were the only ones thing the library , and pulls Marinette and Juleka in. “What note and what heart?”

 

“Spill,” Juleka demands. She may be the quiet one, but she sure as hell wants to know what happened.

 

Marinette sighs, before reaching for the note, which she stuffed in her backpack, and placing it on the table.

 

Alix and Juleka grab it and Marinette curses at the shit-eating grins the spread across their faces after their eyes skim it.

 

“He knows,” Alix says, disbelievingly.

 

“I know,” Marinette grumbles.

 

“He knows,” Juleka mumbles.

 

“I know.”

 

“HE KNO-“ 

 

Marinette slaps her hands over their mouths. “I know! Now will you two shut up?!”

 

Alix removes Marinette’s hand off of her mouth and exclaims, “How can we?! An extremely hot guy wants you!!”

 

“You don-“

 

Juleka interrupts. “Oh yes we do. Yesterday, the principle had all the posters removed after everyone left. But they’re back up again. Didn’t you see them?”

 

Marinette stares in shock. She knew they were taken down, Mylene texted her. But she didn’t know that they were back up. _Wait a minute. The posters must’ve been hung up after I arrived. If I arrived 20 minutes ago, then they must’ve been hung up within those 20 minutes. That must mean that Chat Noir is in the building right now!_

 

Marinette suddenly stands up. “Juleka! Alix! When the both of you arrived, did you see anyone else in the building?!”

 

Juleka and Alix look startled at Marinette’s outburt. “Uh, we didn’t pay attention. Why?” Alix asks.

 

“Because when I got here, those posters weren’t up! But when you got here they were already up. Which means that Chat must’ve somehow gotten them up in such a short amount of time and that he’s in the school right now,” Marinette explains.

 

Juleka and Alix look at each other and nod before they stand up and start packing their things. “We have to find him, now. Since it’s so early, not many people will be here. It shouldn’t be hard to find him,” Juleka states.

 

Marinette nods and packs her things up before they all rush out of the library.

 

“Juleka you take the North wing. Alix you take the South. I’ll take the East. We will all take the West once we’re done searching our wing. Got it?” Marinette quickly says.

 

“Got it,” Juleka says before running down a half-way.

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Alix salutes before running off to the stairs.

 

Marinette is already on the East side so she starts going down hallways and checking classrooms. She encounters girls, people with black hair, dark skin, red hair, etc. But not a tall blonde male. She groans in frustration and decides to head to the West wing to find out if Alix or Juleka found anyone.

 

As she rounds a corner, she spots someone putting up the Ladybug posters.

 

“Hey! You!” Marinette shouts at the person as she jogs up to him. The person turns around and immediately whips his head back and breaks into a sprint.

 

“Wha?! HEY!” Marinette runs after him. She couldn’t see his face when he turned around but she saw that he had glasses on. _He might know who Chat Noir is! Dammit, I can’t let him get away!_

 

The boy runs through many hallways and up and down multiple stair cases but Marinette doesn’t relent. She chases after him like her life depends on it. 

 

As they enter the West wing, Marinette hears her name called.

 

She turns her head to find Juleka and Alix running to catch up with her.

 

“Why are you chasing him?!” Alix screams.

 

Marinette sees the boy turn his head back to them and start running faster. “I caught him hanging up those posters! He must know who Chat Noir is!”

 

Thankfully Marinette is on the track team, so she can keep up with him. But Juleka and Alix seem to be falling behind. “Come on! We can’t lose him!” Marinette shouts.

 

“We’ll catch up!”

 

The boy rounds a corner and when Marinette rounds the corner she notices that he’s nowhere in sight and that she’s at a dead end.

 

“Dammit! Where are you?!” Marinette shouts at the empty hallway. She looks in every unlocked classroom but doesn’t find the boy. She even checks every nook and cranny but gets nothing. That is until she enters her health classroom to find Adrien at his desk, hunched over something. 

 

Adrien whips his around when he hears the door open. 

 

“Adrien? What are you going here so early?” Marinette asks, breathing heavily. She will not in a million years admit that part of the reason she’s breathing heavily is because of suddenly seeing Adrien and her heart picking up.

 

“Ah, hello Marinette,” he smiles innocently (too innocently) at her, “I’m here because I had to ask Ms. McKlaina couple things. But she’s not here yet. Are you ok? You seem to be out of breathe.” He seems a bit too stiff. Almost as if he’s nervous about something.

 

Luckily for him, Marinette doesn’t read too much into it because she has the situation at hand to deal with. “I’m fine. Um, did you see someone run by just now?” she hurriedly asks.

 

Adrien seems to contemplate this before saying, “Do you mean the guy with the dark hoodie and purple t-shirt?”

 

“Yes! Him!”

 

“I just saw him run down the hallway,” he points out the door, “while you weren’t lo-“

 

He doesn’t have a chance to finish when Marinette suddenly runs out of the room and back down the hall.

 

Once Juleka and Alix catch up with Marinette, they start searching every hall and classroom for the boy, but don’t find him or anything. By the time they give up, more students have arrived and class is about to start.

 

Marinette sighs and tells Juleka and Alix, “Lets just go to class. I’ll see you guys later.” She waves them goodbye and walks to her class.

* * *

(Flashback to when Marinette ran out of her classroom)

When Adrien can’t hear her footsteps anymore he turns towards the teacher’s desk. “How can you be so careless?”

 

The boy pops his head above the desk. He wheezes out, “Sorry, man. I didn’t think anyone would be here so early. Especially her. But damn can she run.”

 

Adrien sighs and gets up, ready to leave. As he’s walking toward the door he says, “You have to be more careful next time, Nino.”

 

“Don’t you think this is a little cruel? You can call it off, you know?”

 

Adrien opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.

 

He leaves the room in silence.

* * *

The rest of the day goes by quickly for Marinette. Although, there are still people talking about what happened to her yesterday. This was amplified tenfold when Adrien talked to her twice in-between classes and walked her to two of her classes. But besides that, and Alya’s, Mylene’s, and Rose’s bantering of the morning’s events, everything went by smoothly.

 

Gym has just ended for her and she’s the only one left in the girl’s locker room, changing, when Chloe walks in.

 

Chloe hasn’t done anything to Marinette for the past two days and that’s saying something. Normally, Chloe would’ve done the most inhuman thing she could with whatever leverage she had against someone. But she hasn’t done anything. The only thing she has done is smirk at her and call her a nerd. But she always does that. Marinette would retort with a smart comment and that would be that. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

As Chloe walks to her locker, which is in the same row as Marinette’s, Marinette can’t help but start to feel a little uneasy. She picks up the pace of changing her clothes.

 

“So, how was your weekend, Marinerd?” Chloe snickers.

 

Marinette stiffens at the mention of her weekend and the fact that Chloe is trying to talk to her. “It was great. Not seeing your face was truly a blessing,” she curtly replies.

 

“Right back at you,” Chloe hisses.

 

A few moments pass before Chloe asks, “Well aren’t you going to ask how my weekend was?”

 

“No,” Marinette deadpans.

 

Chloe smirks. “Well if you must know-“

 

“No, I must not.”

 

“I had quite an interesting weekend. I threw the best party of the year for only the most important people. So of course you weren’t invited,” she said, putting emphasize on the ‘important’ and ‘you’.

 

“Wow, that sounds like so much fun,” Marinette sarcastically replies.

 

“Oh it was. I even got to meet a very interesting person. Oh what was her name…” 

 

Chloe’s face suddenly breaks into one that could rival the wicked witch’s of the west face. “Ah, it was Ladybug.”

 

Marinette feels herself go completely and utterly cold. _Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT. I have to get out of here._

 

She stuffs her gym clothes into her gym bag and takes a beeline toward the exit. But she is stopped when a hand grabs her wrist.

 

“Where are you going?” Chloe purrs as she wraps an arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

 

“I-I just remembered I have to be somewhere,” Marinette stutters as her eyes widen.

 

“Oh? But class isn’t over.”

 

“I have to ask the teacher something,” Marinette grits out. She has to get out, **right now**.

 

“Bullshit. You and I both know what this is about, Ladybug,” Chloe sneers.

 

_Crap crap crap crap crap crap. She knows! Of course she knows. I was naive to think she doesn’t!_

 

“No retorts? Well I guess I’ll do the talking.” Chloe lets go of Marinette to walk to her backpack and pick something out of it.

 

Marinette stays rooted in her spot, terror holding onto her with a vice-grip.

 

Chloe walks up to Marinette and holds up a photo of her and Chat Noir when they were making out after she lost their little bet.

 

“Stay away from Chat Noir. Pretend everything that happened between the two of you never happened. If you don’t I’ll make sure everyone sees these photos of you and him. Then everyone will know how much of a slut you are.”

 

Marinette can’t believe her ears. “Are you blackmailing me?”

 

Chloe smirks. “Well if you put it that way, it makes me seem evil. I like to think of it as strategic planning.”

 

_This bitch._

 

“Oh, and if you’re planning on ripping this photo, don’t. It’ll be a waste of your time. I have more than just this picture of the two of you.” 

 

Marinette glares the iciest glare she could muster. If looks could kill, Chloe would be so far underground, she would end up at the Earth’s core.

 

“Aw, no need to glare like that.” Chloe snickers.

 

**RIIIING!!**

 

“Well looks like it’s time to go home. Have a nice day, Ladybug.”

* * *

“YEAH!” The track coach shouts as she clocks in 5 minutes for Marinette’s mile.

 

“That’s your best score ever, Cheng!” She pats Marinette on the back.

 

“Thanks,” Marinette curtly replies.

 

“Wooo, what has gotten into you today?”

 

“Nothing, I’m just letting off some steam,” Marinette says before sprinting off down the track. Running has always been one of her favorite things to do. To her, it feels like flying. Like designing, it’s a way for her to escape reality and let out her emotions. Marinette still feels the anger burning inside of her after her confrontation with Chloe. 

 

Once track is over, Marinette quickly gets ready so she can head to Adrien’s house. She  hops in her car and drives off to the address he gave her.

 

When she arrives she can’t help but stare in amazement at the sheer size of his house. Wait. No. It isn’t a house. It’s a palace.

 

She drives up to the gate and sees a little key pad with a speaker above it. She has no idea what to do and is ready to call Adrien when the gates suddenly open up. She slowly drives in and sees Adrien waving at her to park by the garage. 

 

As she’s parking, she can’t help but notice how hot Adrien looks. His hair is wet from a shower he most likely took. There are droplets of water running down his neck and landing on his arms. _Holy hell his arms. Argh! Enough with these thoughts Marinette!_

 

“Hey, Marinette!” Adrien grins at her as she grabs her bag and hops out of the car. Marinette awkwardly waves back in return.

 

“Come in, come in.” Adrien ushers her inside. Once Marinette is inside her jaw drops. If she thought it was big outside, it’s huge inside.

 

“Wow… Your house is huge,” she blurts. Marinette internally kicks herself in the face at the comment.

 

Adrien chuckles humorlessly. “Yeah. It’s… something.”

 

Marinette doesn’t understand why he suddenly looks so sad but she wants to do anything to make it go away. “Come on! Time to learn how babies are made! Sounds like soooo much fun, right???” Marinette winks and does jazz hands before pushing him toward the stairs..

 

Adrien snorts and chuckles, leading her to his room. Marinette knows she looks stupid but at least Adrien seems up. “Alright. You know I’ve been thinking this **hole** time about what you’re going to tutor me on,” he says, putting emphasize on the hole.

 

Marinette almost trips over her feet when she hears the pun. But she still feels energy after her encounter with Chloe, so she puns right back. “Yeah. It too me a while to **finger out** what I should teach you first.”

 

Marinette takes satisfaction in seeing Adrien’s face turn as red as a fire truck. They’re silent the rest of the way to Adrien’s room and Marinette starts thinking that what she said was too far.

 

But once they arrive in Adrien’s room, she hears him mumble, “After we’re done, I’m gonna **eat out**.”

 

Marinette and Adrien look at each other before they burst out laughing. They laugh for a full 5 minutes before they’re composed.

 

“I haven’t laughed that much in a long time.” Adrien smiles.

 

“Me neither,” Marinette replies.

 

They’re silent for a few moments before she hears Adrien mutter something that makes her blood freeze and her eyes widen to the size of plates.

 

“Ladybug.”

 

_SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITNONONONONONONO_

 

Marinette swears she has the worst of luck. She feels like her life is a movie and the Gods are laughing their asses off at the situation she’s in. 

 

Adrien reaches over and touches a Ladybug that landed on Marinette’s shoulder. All the while, Marinette is as still as a statue.

 

She feels his fingers brush her shoulders. She won’t be surprised if he can her her erratic heart beat. Although, she’s surprised her heart hasn’t beaten out of her chest yet.

 

As he leans his face in towards her neck, she starts to slightly shake. 

 

The hairs on the back of her neck prickle when he pushes her hair off of her shoulder. 

 

“There’s a ladybug on your shoulder.” 

 

Marinette deflates like a balloon. _Thank God. Holy Lord. Mother Earth. Buddha. Allah. Jesus. Moses. Thank you all. You all have my eternal respect._

 

She feels the ladybug crawl closer and closer to her when realization hits her like a lightning bolt. _Adrien might see or notice my hickeys._

 

She throws herself as far away from Adrien as she can and brushes the ladybug violently off her shoulder. Adrien stares at her with wide eyes and an unreadable expression. “Are you alright?”

 

Marinette stutters out, “Y-yeah! Let’s start studying!” She runs to her backpack and starts to get her stuff out. As she’s pulling her textbook out, she fills Adrien’s eyes drilling holes into the back of her head. Her ears twitch when she hears him get up and his footsteps.

 

When she turns around, she sees him rummaging around his desk. As if sensing her gaze, he turns around and smiles kindly. “Ready?”

 

Marinette, still shaken, replies, “Y-yeah.”

* * *

“Adrien!” Marinette yells, annoyed.

 

Marinette has been tutoring him for the past 4 hours. Tutoring him is extremely hard because Adrien kept on spacing out and distracting Marinette from the task at hand. At first it was cute and funny. But it got real old, real fast. At this point, Marinette was ready to pull her hair out. _He’s worse than Chat Noir!_

 

 _Wait, what?_ Marinette wonders why she compared Chat to Adrien. They’re completely different people. Chat’s a cocky, arrogant, full of himself, hot, and sex- _That piece of shit._ Adrien on the other hand is kind, funny, sweet, and at times haughty. But he doesn’t go too far with him haughtiness, unlike Chat.

 

“Whaaaaat?” Adrien innocently asks.

 

Marinette shoots daggers at him. “Quit distracting me! I have to make sure you understand all of this!”

 

Adrien groans. “But Marineeette, I don’t really feel like doing this.”

 

“But Adrieeeen, we have to. It’s already 8! I should’ve left 2 hours ago!” Marinette mimics.

 

Adrien looks down. Marinette can’t help but feel like she just scolded a puppy.

 

“But… 2 hours isn’t a lot.”

 

Marinette feels herself snap. “Yes it is! I still have a lot of homework to do when I get home! I’ll have to stay up really late tonight, finishing everything! I could’ve been one with it if it weren’t for **you**.” She slaps her hands over her mouth, not wanting those words to come out.

 

Adrien stiffens. “You’re right. I’m sorry for keeping you here.” He offers a stiff smile.

 

Marinette feels repugnant and wishes for nothing more than to travel back in time and not say what she said.

 

“Oh God… I’m so sorr-“

 

“It’s fine. You can go now,” Adrien replies rather harshly.

 

Adrien’s eyes widen at his tone. “Ah, sorry about that. It’s just that…”

 

“I’m all ears.” Marinette sits down next to Adrien, knee-to-knee.

 

And everything starts pouring out of him. Like a dam was broken.

 

Marinette is quite surprised that he is telling her everything, when they didn’t spend a lot of alone time together like this, before the tutoring. She guesses it’s because he is so alone and desperate that he is willing to talk to anyone who’s willing to listen. 

 

But, they would occasionally hang out, since their best friends are dating. Either than that, they were rarely completely alone. Marinette thinks she should change that and that they should start hanging out more.

 

As he talks, Marinette imagines her own house and life. Full of light and happiness. How her parents are always there and it’s full with the hustle and bustle of Parisians (in the bakery). How it has that homey feeling. How it’s full of pictures of herself and her family. How love clings to the walls and everything in the house. How she has amazing, crazy friends. How she does what she likes. How her parents allow her to pursue her dreams. How she has a lot of freedom.

 

Then, Marinette imagines what it’s like to live in Adrien’s house and his life. He’s constantly alone. He can’t do what he wants to do. He has to do whatever his father wants. He wears a fake smile in public. How he had to fight tooth and nail to go to a public school. His tough model life. His packed schedule. How he has zero freedom.

 

When he’s done, Marinette feels her heart wrench at Adrien’s expression. He always looked so happy, has a lot of money, and is famous, so Marinette assumed that his life is perfect. But, it seems like he has his own demons to fight.

 

Marinette stands up, pulls Adrien up, and hugs him.

 

“W-wha?” Adrien stutters, his arms limp at his sides.

 

“I know we aren’t that close, but I’m always here. You can always talk to me about anything. Whether you’re hurt, sad, or plain angry, tell me and I’ll come and listen. Just don’t deal with those feelings alone.”

 

Marinette continues to hug him before letting him go. She isn’t sure if hugging him was over-stepping any boundaries or not, but she’s glad she did it. He seemed to be in the need of one.

 

“Well, I should get going. And remember, I’m always here for you,” she says as she starts to walk away. She doesn’t get far before she feels a hand grab her wrist and she’s slammed into a chest, arms wrapped tightly around her.

 

“H-huh?” Marinette feels a blush creep up her cheeks. Her mind is a puddle, trying to understand what just happened. Her face going into full blush-mode when Adrien buries his face in her hair.

 

“Adrien?” She tries turning her head to see him but he only grips her tighter. It’s then she notices that he’s shaking.

 

Her sleeve, wet.

 

She wraps her arms around Adrien.

 

This boy, who is hollow.

 

This boy, who is filled with tears and darkness and anguish.

 

This boy, who craves love and light from this girl.

 

This girl, who is full.

 

This girl, who is filled with laughs and light and love.

 

This girl, who wants to give her love and light to this boy.

 

And this boy and this girl stand there, for who knows how long, in each other’s arms. The world forgotten.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The brightest smiles hide the deepest secrets, the prettiest eyes cry the most tears, and the kindest hearts have felt the most pain.
> 
> (I do not own this quote)


	5. Day 3 Wednesday

**_POUND! POUND! POUND!_ **

 

Marinette wearily opens her eyes to have sun rays blast into her eyes.

 

“MARINEETTTTTEEEE!” Marinette groans and presses two pillows against her ears, trying to block out the screaming and pounding.

 

“OPEN UP THE DOOR!”

 

Marinette whines, “Noooo! I’m sleeping!”

 

The pounding gets even faster and louder. “I DON’T CARE! OPEN. UP. THE. DOOR!”

 

Marinette reaches over for her phone to see that it’s far to early to wake up for a day off. She has a day off because all of her school’s teacher have a big meeting they have to attend. Since there aren’t enough substitute teachers, the school just gave the students a day off. It was an extremely nice feeling for Marinette to be woken up by her parents and be told that she doesn’t have any school. She would’ve gotten about 4 hours of sleep if she had school.

 

After what happened with Adrien, she decided to stay for a little while longer, ignoring his protests. She didn’t want him to be alone after the emotional roller coaster he went on. She spent the majority of the time talking to him about the most random things, trying to distract his mind from the bad thoughts. Luckily, it worked. 

 

Marinette was surprised how much fun and easy it was talking to him. She was a bit sad when she had to leave. She was even more sad when she got home and stared at all the homework she had to do. Thank the holy Lord for no school days.

 

Marinette grumbles before wiggling deeper into her bed, hoping that the noise will eventually go away.

 

After 5 minutes pass without any noise, Marinette sighs blissfully and starts to doze off.

 

**_SPLASH!_ **

 

Marinette practically jumps out of her bed when she feels ice cold water get splashed on herself. 

 

Marinette looks up, eyes flashing, to see Alya standing over her with her arms crossed over her chest and a cheshire grin spread across her face.

 

“HA! Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily!” Alya laughs.

 

Marinette grips her hands. “You know, you didn’t have to pour ice cold water on me.”

 

Alya waves her off. “Of course I had to. If I didn’t you wouldn’t have ever gotten out of bed.”

 

“Why would I have to get out of bed? We don’t have school today. I could’ve slept in!” Marinette growls before stalking off to the bathroom.

 

“Yes, you could have. But instead, Mylene, you, and myself are going swimming!” Alya claps her hands, clearly excited.

 

Marinette, on the other hand, feels like another bucket of cold water has been poured on her. “T-the pool?! Alya! You know I can’t go swimming! Everyone will see the marks!”

 

Alya wraps her arm around Marinette’s shoulder and says, “Who said you were swimming at a public pool?”

 

Marinette stops wringing her hair and looks at Alya, confused. “I’m not following you.”

 

“You know how Mylene moved to a new house recently? Because her old house was robbed.”

 

Marinette’s eyes widen in surprise. “She already moved?! That quickly?”

 

Alya nods her head. “Yup. Her parents were really pissed off about it and wanted to move as soon as possible.”

 

“Woah. Where?”

 

Alya jerks her thumb. “Over in the suburbs of Paris. As far away as they can without driving too far to work and school for Mylene.”

 

Marinette mulls this over. When she heard Mylene’s house was robbed, she immediately went to Mylene’s house to make sure she’s alright. What she saw when she got there left her so shocked, that she almost laughed. Everything was robbed. As in all the furniture, food, and utilities. Such as the bathtubs, the refrigerator, the toilets, the cabinets, the carpet, etc. Mylene’s house was spotless. 

 

Mylene was devastated. She was crying her eyes out when Marinette got there. Mylene’s parents, on the other hand, were out for blood. Marinette would’ve not been surprised if they suddenly turned into the devil and the devil’s twin, if such a thing existed. 

 

Luckily, they eventually found the robbers and got their furniture back. When Marinette and Rose were at the police station with Mylene, Marinette could’ve sworn she saw Mylene’s father whisper to two men dressed in all black and have them walk into the room holding the robbers. It would explain the piss stains the robbers had when they exited the room, getting led by cops. But the men dressed in black didn’t come out. When Marinette looked in the room the robbers waited before going to their cells, it was completely empty. She didn’t dare ask Mylene’s father what happened.

 

“Yeah,” Alya shakes her head, “Anyways, her new house has a pool.”

 

Marinette sputters, “A pool?!”

 

“Yeah! She wants us to come over. Sadly, Alix, Juleka, and Rose can’t make it because of family stuff. But, I knew you wouldn’t have anything planned since you never have any plans-“

 

“Hey!”

 

“So that’s why I came here.” Alya grins cheekily.

 

Marinette grumbles, “Rude.”

 

“Now come on! Hurry up and get ready!” 

 

“Who said I’m going?”

 

“I did. Duh,” Alya says, as if it’s obvious. 

 

“But will her parents allow us to come over?”

 

“Mylene wouldn’t have invited us if they didn’t.”

 

“What if someone sees us?”

 

“There are trees covering the perimeter of her backyard, which is where the pool is. So nobody will be able to see. Unless they’re willing to climb over

 

“But…” Marinette hunches her shoulders and rubs her arms, running out of excuses.

 

Something not many people know about Marinette is that she gets very self-conscious when too much skin is showing. She can handle a tiny dress or a short skirt. But a swimsuit? Out of the question. Whenever she went swimming when she was younger (which was very rarely), she would always wear swim trunks and a swim shirt. It’s just that, she doesn’t want people looking at her body and criticizing it.

 

Her friends tell her how she shouldn’t be ashamed of her body because her body looks, as Alix specifically puts it, “banging.”, But Marinette doesn’t see it. It makes her even more embarrassed of her body.

 

Alya’s eyes soften sympathetically. “Don’t worry, Mari. You’ll just be with Mylene and I. And if you still feel uncomfortable after a while, then you can leave the pool.”

 

Marinette smiles, thankful. “Thanks. But, I think I’ll be fine. I mean, it’ll just be the two of you.”

 

Alya’s face breaks into a grin. “Yup! Now get ready!”

 

“Alright, alright.” Marinette laughs.

 

“Oh and by the way. I was wondering if we could stop at a swim shop. I need to buy a new swimsuit because my old one’s too small.”

 

Marinette stares at her. “Alya. You just got a swimsuit a couple months back.”

 

Alya grabs her boobs and smirks. “Hey, these puppies are still growing.”

 

“Puppies? They’re like Saint Bernards.”

 

Alya wiggles her eyebrows. “Exactly.”

 

“Oh. My. God. Alya!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alya! You didn’t tell me there was a pool here!” Marinette complains.

 

Alya pulls a reluctant Marinette into a swimsuit shop, which just so happens to be right by a very popular swimming pool.

 

“But this is the place that sells the best bikinis in all of Paris! Besides, you aren’t actually going swimming here. We’re just here to get a swimsuit and get out.”

 

Marinette wraps the scarf she’s wearing tighter around her neck and protests.

 

“Don’t worry! I’ll quickly pick out a swimsuit as quick as lightning.”

 

“You take forever when it comes to bikini shopping. Remember how the last time I came bikini shopping with you? It took you 45 minutes to find one,” Marinette deadpans.

 

Alya scoffs whilst looking through racks of swimsuits. “Puh-lease. I don’t remember such a thing.” 

 

“Alya-“

 

“By the way, where’s your swimsuit?”

 

Marinette reaches into a duffel bag she brought and shuffles around before blinking a couple times and breathing, “Shit.”

 

Alya silently laughs evilly. “Looks like you forgot one.”

 

Marinette slowly looks up, her eyes glowing. “Alya… Did you take out my swimsuit?”

 

“Me? Psshh. No! Of course not! I would never do such a thing!” Alya puts a hand on her chest, in mock hurt. Her other hand is full of bikinis.

 

Marinette’s eye twitches.

 

“I mean, it’s not like I took it out just so we can buy you a hella sexy bikini-“

 

“ALYA!” Marinette bites out, not caring about the looks thrown their direction.

 

“And it’s not like I specifically went here because Nino’s gonna be here and I chat with him for a couple minutes before we go to Mylene’s house. Not. At. All!” Alya blinks innocently, but Marinette can see the devil horns and tail coming out of Alya.

 

“You bi-“

 

“Now, now. No need to use that kind of language.” Alya wraps an arm around Marinette and steers her toward a dressing room. “Just try on these bikinis and pick the one you like most! Oh and don’t worry I’ll pay.” Alya throws the swimsuits she picked out and Marinette in a dressing room.

 

“Hey! Don’t I have a say in this?!” Marinette pounds on the dressing room door.

 

“Nope!”

 

“Alya! Open the door! I thought we were going to swim at Mylene’s place!”

 

“We are! You aren’t wearing whichever swimsuit you pick here. I just need to quickly see and talk to a shirtless Nino.”

 

Marinette exasperates, “What? I’m confused!”

 

Alya quickly goes in the dressing room, away from the weird looks people gave her. 

 

Once she’s inside she grabs Marinette’s shoulders. “Ok here’s what’s going to happen. I’m gonna leave some money for you here to buy whichever swimsuit you choose. No buts!” Alya quickly adds, seeing Marinette open her mouth to protest. “While you are trying on swimsuits, I’ll quickly go and chat with Nino. If I’m not back by the time you pay, then you can come get me and we’ll go to Mylene’s place to have some fun!”

 

“Wait, what about your swimsuit?”

 

Alya nervously laughs. “Yeah, about that. I lied about my swimsuit being too small.”

 

Marinette sighs. “Of course you did.” Her eyes wander to the pile of swimsuits.

 

Alya stares Marinette dead in the eye. “Mari, you have an amazing body.”

 

Marinette blinks.

 

“Don’t look at me like that. I know you were thinking how bad you think you’ll look in one of those swimsuits. But let me tell you, you look absolutely gorgeous. Yes, you are imperfect and inevitably flawed. But they’re what make you special. They’re what make you unique. They’re what make you beautiful. Don’t be ashamed of them. Love them and yourself. Loving yourself is the greatest Revolution. Be confident. Be like Ladybug.”

 

As if a switch has been flipped, Marinette breathes before nodding. “You’re right. I can do this. Besides only you and Mylene will see me. It’ll a small step, but it’ll be something.”

 

Alya hugs Marinette. “You go, girl.” 

 

Marinette laughs before returning the hug. 

 

“Alright! I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you in a few,” Alya says before heading out of the fitting room.

 

Marinette looks at the pile of swimsuits and quickly gets to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Of course, Alya isn’t back yet. I’m not surprised._ Marinette walks out of the shop, peeved that Alya hasn’t shown up yet. It’s been 20 minutes. _Why are swim shop lines so long?_

 

The bikini Marinette bought isn’t too revealing and covers enough skin to make her somewhat comfortable. Plus, she finds it to be a perfect blend of cuteness and hotness. She actually felt **sexy** and confident wearing it. That never happened to her. So she bought it without a second thought.

 

She looks over at the pool and sees it packed with teenagers. Not a single adult or child in sight. It seems that her high school wasn’t the only one that got a day off.

 

She’s surprised at the sheer size of the pool. She’s seen it a couple times before and she could swear that it was smaller before. It may take a while for Marinette to find Alya.

 

She cringes a bit as she walks by the near naked, wet bodies around her. Good thing she’s wearing shorts, a tank, and a scarf. Not too conspicuous.

 

Her thought process breaks when she suddenly feels herself bump into something that feels like a hard wall. A wet, hard wall. “Oof!”

 

“I’m sorr-! Marinette?”

 

Marinette looks up, whilst rubbing her nose, to see Adrien. Shirtless. A shirtless Adrien. A shirtless, wet Adrien. A shirtless, wet, glistening, Adrien. _Holy shit. God, help me._

 

“A-ah, hi!” Marinette awkwardly waves.

 

Adrien smile warmly at her, acting as if nothing is wrong. As if Marinette isn’t about to combust.

 

“Hey. Are you here to swim?” he asks, nodding his head towards the pool.

 

Marinette shakes her head, still extremely flustered. “No. I’m looking for my, uhhhh, friend, Alya.” _Great going, Marinette._

 

“I hear you.” Adrien nods while rubbing his arm. _His arms. His fucking sinful arms._

 

“Yeah…,” Marinette trails off. 

 

A blanket of awkwardness covers them as silence settles in.

 

Adrien clears his throat. “So it’s a nice day out today. How come you aren’t basking in the light?”

 

Marinette laughs, the awkwardness easing up a bit. “I am. Just not here. Once I find Alya, we’ll go to Mylene’s place.”

 

“Cool, cool. That sounds fun.”

 

Marinette asks, trying to keep the conversation going, “What about you? Are you here with friends or…?”

 

Adrien’s mood seems to damper. “No, I’m here for a photoshoot. The set’s over there.” He points to a photoshoot set-up by the mini-pool. Unsurprisingly, there are girls and a couple boys surrounding the set acting as if they aren’t paying attention to Adrien or the set. But Marinette can see the glares thrown her way and how some of the girls stare at the set longingly.

 

But minus the girls, and some boys, Marinette is quite amazed with the set. There’s a lot of expensive-looking equipment and many people working. It’s set in a way that faces the mini-pool, and a long-chair behind it.

 

“Wow. That looks amazing! But sucks that you still have to work today.” Marinette exclaims.

 

Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah. But, since I have the day off, I got to finish this shoot up earlier today. So it’s almost over! I’m going to hang out with Nino and Nathanael afterwards.”

 

Marinette seems to remember that she’s supposed to be looking for Alya. “Wait, do you know where Nino is?”

 

“Not at the moment, no. Why?”

 

“Because Alya said that she’ll go talk to him for a bit, but it’s been more than a bit,” she grumbled.

 

Adrien seems to think. “If I see her or Nino, I’ll take them to you.”

 

Marinette’s eyes light up. “Really? Thank you so much!”

 

Adrien coughs and covers the lower-half of his face with a hand. “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

 

“Well, I should get back to looking for her.”

 

Is it Marinette’s imagination or did Adrien look like a kicked puppy when she said that? “W-wait! I was wondering if um…”

 

Marinette looks at him, confused. “Yes?”

 

“I was… Ugh shit… I was wondering if you wanted to-“

 

“Adrien! Who is this beauty?!” A man shouts as he walks up to Adrien and Marinette.

 

Adrien stiffens a bit. “This is my friend, Marinette. Marinette, this is Marco, my photographer for this shoot.”

 

Before Marinette can even open her mouth, Marco drops down on one knee, grabs her hand, and says, “Ciao, Angelo,” before kissing the back of her hand.

 

Marinette’s face erupts in a blush. “H-hi.”

 

“I don’t think I have seen such a beautiful lady in my life. You are a goddess,” Marco croons.

 

Marinette stutters, “Th-thank y-you.”

 

Adrien pulls Marco up a little too rough. Marinette can’t understand why. “Alright, Marco. Is it time to start up again?”

 

Marco smirks. “Yes. For you and the angelo.”

 

Adrien sputters. “W-what?”

 

“I want you and Marinette on that set. Now.”

 

Marinette’s eyes widen and she looks at Adrien for help. “Marinette doesn’t want to be in the shoot. Leave her out of this.”

 

“But I saw the way you looked at her! Filled with such happiness. It was delightful. And I saw the way you looked at him! The way you two kept moving closer to each other. The body language! And you two look perfect together! I almost melted from the pheromones you two were releasing!”

 

Marinette’s and Adrien’s faces light up like the devil’s christmas tree and they avoid the other’s eyes. Marinette, at this point, feels like punching this photographer into oblivion.

 

“I’m sorry, Marco. But I don’t-“

 

“Nonsense!” He waves her off. “All you’ll have to do is put on one of those beach dresses and look pretty.”

 

“But-“

 

“No buts!” 

 

Marinette can’t help but feel deja vu at this situation. She continues to try to talk Marco out of the idea, but he isn’t having it.

 

“Listen, I don’t think this is a good ide-“ Adrien tries but gets cut off.

 

“This is a great idea! Why? Because I came up with it,” Marco says arrogantly.

 

Marinette considers the photoshoot. It’ll probably be the only thing to get this guy to shut up. Plus, it won’t be too bad. She wouldn’t be wearing a swimsuit. And she’ll be with a wet, hot, **sexy** \- _OK! ENOUGH, MARINETTE! Get your hormones in control!_

 

Marinette sighs before agreeing.

 

Adrien’s eyes widen. “Wait, I really don’t think this is a good-“

 

“Perfect! You can change over there. The dress is already in there,” Marco points a mini hut on the opposite side of the set, “By the way, do you have a swimsuit?”

 

“Um, yes.”

 

“Ok good! You’ll have to put that on below the dress.”

 

Marinette starts to panic a bit. “I have to wear a swimsuit?”

 

Marco gives her a strange look. “Of course. This is a photoshoot at a pool. Now, hurry up. We don’t have all day,”  he says before pushing Marinette towards it and pulling Adrien with him.

 

Marinette awkwardly jogs over to the hut and wastes no time in changing. The quicker the photoshoot is over with, the better. Thankfully the dress is modest enough. The down-side is that it’s white. So Marinette will have to be careful and try not to get it too wet, or else everyone will se what’s underneath.

 

Once she’s done changing, a set of 10 people barge in and do her hair and makeup. They let her hair down in loose beach waves and put on a very light amount of makeup.

 

As the crew leaves, Marinette stays behind. It takes her a few minutes to leave. After repeating Alya’s pep-talk, from earlier, and giving herself her own mini pep talk, Marinette was ready. _I’m Ladybug. I’m confident. I’m brave. I’m hot as all hell._

 

But the moment Marinette steps outside, she immediately wants to run back inside. Many people discreetly stare at her. But she forces herself to walk to the set and ignore the stares and whispers.

 

When she meets Adrien’s eyes, she smiles and waves a little shyly at him. She doesn’t know if it’s a good or bad thing that his eyes widen and mouth slightly drops. Maybe he thinks i’m way over my head? _No. He would never think that. Just think happy thoughts-_

 

Her thoughts are cut off when she feels someone push her. In the pool.

 

**_SPLASH!_ **

 

Marinette feels water enter her nose and quickly swims up towards the surface. Once above water, she clears her nose and wipes her eyes. Her cheeks heat up when giggles enter her ears.

 

“Sabrina! Look what you did!” Marinette hears. Marinette looks towards the culprit to find Chloe, arms crossed, cheshire grin on her face.

 

“Oops! I accidentally bumped into you. Sorrryyyy,” Sabrina apologies in the most insincere voice Marinete has ever seen. Everyone around them start pointing at Marinette and laughing at her.

 

Marinette feels tears prick her eyes and her throat clog up. Her heart getting continuously shot with arrows and shame clouding her mind.

 

“Ooooh, Marinette. What are you wearing? That’s inappropriate,” Chloe sneers, pointing at Marinette’s now see-through dress. 

 

“And are those… marks I see?” Sabrina snickers, pointing at the marks on Marinette’s neck. The marks that she completely forgot about when she agreed to do the photoshoot and when she changed clothes. The marks the makeup artists somehow didn’t catch when they were doing her makeup.

 

“Marks?” Chloe grins wickedly, “Doesn’t Lady-“

 

“CHLOE! Enough!” A voice booms. Everyone turns to see Adrien walking towards Chloe.

 

“Adrikins!” Chloe launches herself at Adrien. But Adrien pushes her off of him and glares at her.

 

“What the hell is this?!” Adrien demands.

 

“Oh, Sabrina accidentally bumped into Marinette and she fell in the pool,” Chloe replies, biting her lip and trying to look innocent.

 

“Quit lying, Chloe! I saw what happened.” Adrien balls his his hands into fists.

 

Chloe and Sabrina blink. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Chloe says, the lies flowing out of her mouth.

 

Chloe and Adrien continue to bicker back-and-forth, not noticing Marinette swim towards the opposite edge of the pool, quickly get out, and run out of there.

 

She ignores the people who did notice her and that try to call after her. She just wants to get the hell out of there and away from everyone. She decides to head to a safe alley, by the swimsuit shop and wait until things die down. She has no idea how she’ll get her stuff back but she’ll somehow manage.

 

Once Marinette arrives, she puts her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breathe.

 

“Marinette!” Marinette, ready to run, turns her head to see Nino running after her. And suddenly she explodes like a volcano.

 

“Where the hell is Alya?!”

 

“Marinette-“

 

“Where have you two been?!”

 

“Mari-“

 

“What took you two so long?!”

 

“Listen-“

 

“Do you know what just happened?!”

 

“Marinette would you jus-“

 

“You know what? I don’t care. I just want to go home.” 

 

“Wait, Mari-“

 

“I need you or Alya to get my stuff from the changing hut over by the set at-“

 

“LADYBUG!”

 

Marinette feels all air leave her body. She slowly turns her head towards Nino. “What did you just say?”

 

Nino’s eyes widen too, as if he’s surprised that he said it. “Shit.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooohhhh snap


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Miraculous Ladybug.

Marinette’s always been a good secret keeper. If someone tells her a secret, she keeps her mouth shut. She doesn’t go around, telling everyone she knows that someone’s secret. That would be breaking said someone’s trust and possibly straining their friendship. Besides, she wouldn’t want her secrets being spread all throughout the school, so she keeps her lips sealed.

 

Alya, on the other hand, is not a very good secret keeper. The only secrets she actually keeps are that of her close friends, such as Marinette, Mylene, etc. But Marinette still gets a little iffy whenever she tells Alya a secret, that she doesn’t want anyone else to know. Since Alya has told people Marinette’s secrets before. Although, the people Alya told were people Marinette trusted, such as Alix, Juleka, etc, and people whom she would also tell said secret to eventually. But that doesn’t excuse Alya for blabbing numerous times.

 

This, Marinette assumes, was one of those times.

 

“You… you know I’m Ladybug?” Marinette asks in a eerily calm voice, hair hiding her face.

 

Arms flailing wildly, Nino sputters, “Uuum noooo! Psssshhhh! O-of course not! Where w-w-would you get t-that idea?! PSSHHH! I don’t e-even know who L-lady-“

 

“Nino!” Marinate bites, eyes flashing. Nino would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared of Marinette and feared for his life in that moment.

 

Nino’s eyes dart left and right, as the silence stretched on, before sighing, “Yes. I know you’re Ladybug.”

 

Marinette doesn’t know exactly what she feels in that moment. Anger? Yeah, white hot anger to be exact. Betrayal because one of her best friends sold her out? Definitely. Hurt? Oh, it felt like a knife was lodged in her. Frustration? Well, Marinette never knew she could feel such levels of frustration.

 

Marinette feels tears of frustration, hurt, and anger bubble around her eyes. She hangs her head so her hair covers her eyes. She knew Alya wasn’t the best secret keeper, but this? This is a new low.

 

Nino’s eyes widen when he sees Marinette’s mouth quiver. “Oh, crap. Nonono, please don’t cry!” He tries consoling her, but he ends up with his arms, awkwardly, hanging in the air.

 

Nino curses under his breathe, “Dammit Chat… This is all your fault… ” 

 

Both Marinette’s and Nino’s eyes widen at once.

 

“Nino…” Marinette slowly looks up at Nino, with no tears streaks on her face and with dry, wide eyes.

 

Nino wonders if it would be too much to ask for a meteorite to strike him in that moment. Or maybe a tsunami. Has turning invisible been invented yet?

 

“… Did you just say Chat?”

 

Silence is Marinette’s answer.

 

“Do you know Chat…?”

 

Again, Marinette is greeted with silence.

 

“NINO.”

 

“I’m sorry!! I didn’t know he would take it this far! Please don’t kill me!” Nino pleads.

 

“Take what this far?!” Marinette thunders.

 

“Fuck! I really need to think before I speak….”

 

“NI.NO.”

 

“I can’t tell you anything! I’m sorry!”

 

Marinette wonders if she can get away with strangling him to death. If no one found his body… then there wouldn’t be any evidence that she was the one who killed him…

 

Marinette booms, “Why the hell can you not tell me?!”

 

“Because… because I can’t! Hell, I shouldn’t have told you that I know you’re Ladybug.”

 

“Oh? And why should you have not told me?!”

 

“Because!”

 

Marinette and Nino end up glaring at each other, breathing heavily from bellowing at each other.

 

After a few beats of silence, a thought dawns upon Marinette. “Wait a minute. Do you know I’m Ladybug because Chat knows I’m Ladybug and he told you?”

 

Nino frowns and says, “No. Chat has no idea who you are. Why would he have had all those posters hung up around the school if he did?”

 

_I knew it. That note I found in my locker on Monday wasn’t from Chat. But who could’ve left it?_

 

Marinette shakes her head, saving the thought process for another time. “Then was it Alya?”

 

Nino shakes his head. “No. Actually, she’s the reason why I was chasing after you.”

 

Now Marinette is extremely confused. Although, she feels relieved and shameful. Relieved because Alya wasn’t the one who told Nino. Shameful because she suspected Alya was the one who told Nino. Of course she wouldn’t stoop that low. Marinette feels like an idiot for even suspecting Alya. 

 

“What was the reason?” Marinette asks, puzzled.

 

“We were talking when she said she had to go back to you. But she forgot her phone. I thought she would be with you,” he trails off. 

 

“I haven’t seen her since she said she was gonna go talk to you. I thought she was with you,” she replies, eyes widening. 

 

They both look at each other as cold realization sinks in.

 

“Nino…”

 

“Shit! We have to find her!” Nino exclaims, running his hands through his hair.

 

Marinette nods, thinking of all the possible locations Alya may be and what might’ve happened to her.

 

“I’ll go look around the shops near the pool and you look around the pool.”

 

Marinette’s opens her mouth to suggest he looks around the pool instead of her, but he takes off before she has the chance.

 

“Call me if you find her!” he shouts as he runs out of the alley.

 

Marinette stands there for a few moments, thinking about what might await her back at the pool. Will Chloe and Sabrina still be there? Will Adrien? How will they react? What if Marco made Chloe model with Adrien and-

 

_Enough, Marinette! You have no idea where your best friend is. Instead of looking for her you’re standing here, fearing what Chloe or Adrien will think or do back at the pool. Quit being such a coward! You’re stronger than this, dammit! Go to that pool, look for Alya, get your stuff back, and show Chloe that what her and Sabrina did didn’t faze you._

 

With a new found determination, Marinette marches herself out of the alley and towards the pool. She’s not surprised that it’s even more packed than it was last time. It’s midday now, after all. Every teenager in Paris is probably here.

 

As she’s walking past the swim shop, she spots Chloe and Sabrina, clothes over their still wet swimsuits, walking towards her. Of course Chloe has to loudly announce to everyone around them about Marinette’s appearance. “Well lookie lookie who decided to-!“

 

“Shut up, Chloe,” Marinette deadpans, leaving everyone in shock. After all, no one talks back to Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of the mayor and ruiner of lives, in such a manner. Everyone around the shop gets quieter, eavesdropping in on the girl’s conversation, but pretending they’re not.

 

“How dare you talk to Chloe in-!” Sabrina rages before Marinette interrupts her. “Sabrina, you know, I don’t understand why you defend Chloe. You can do better, in my opinion.”

 

“It’s because Chloe is the best! Nobody can top her. Her hair, her face, her body! She’s like a goddess! Like a diamond! Look at how perfect she is! ” Sabrina gestures at Chloe, who smirks and nods at her “friend’s”answer.

 

“You know, I’d love to see things from your point of view,” Marinette smiles the sweetest smile, sweeter than a Shamrock Shake from Mcdonald’s, at Sabrina, “but I just can’t seems to get my head that far up your ass.”

 

**_BAM! BAM! BAM!_ **

 

That’s the sound of everyone’s jaw dropping.

 

If it was quiet before, it’s dead silent now. Marinette almost laughs out loud at everyone’s expressions, especially Sabrina’s and Chloe’s. Oh how she wishes she had a camera to capture this moment.

 

Sabrina, cheeks as red as a fire truck, stutters out, “E-e-excuse m-?!”

 

Chloe puts a her hand up and glares daggers at Marinette. Marinette’s surprised she’s not 10 feet underground. Actually no, she’s surprised she’s not so underground that she’s in the Earth’s core.

 

“You moronic piece of trash… How _dare you_ ,” she spat foul names into Marinette’s face. Some she didn't even know, but could feel their lewd meanings by how Chloe said them. 

 

But Marinette doesn’t back down. **Oh no**. She does no such thing. Instead she calmly waits until Chloe is done before replying, “I bet your ass is jealous of the amount of shit that just came out of your mouth.”

 

**_Silence._ **

 

She saunters over to Chloe and starts circling around her. She squints her eyes and rubs her chin, examining Chloe. All the while, Chloe is stock still, waves of rage and embarrassment radiating from her.

 

Marinette stops a few feet in front of Chloe before glancing casually over at Sabrina and saying, “She’s a diamond? She’s more like a penny. Two-faced, worthless, and in everybody’s pants.”

 

**_Silence. Quiet, deafening, almighty silence._ **

 

Marinette doesn’t give Chloe any time to recover. “You know, maybe if you were a little more nice and considerate to people,” she grabs Chloe’s ears and pulls her so she’s inches from Marinette’s face, “you might be able to pull your head from your ass.”

 

Without saying or doing anything else, Marinette leaves and ambles to the pool whilst whistling a tune.

* * *

“That bitch…,” Chloe mumbles, blood pounding in her ears.

 

Everyone who witnessed Marinette’s grandiose performance against Chloe and Sabrina have not moved a single inch, still frozen in shock.

 

“What’s everyone looking at?! Nothing to see here!” Sabrina demands, snapping out of her frozen state first.

 

Everyone slowly go back to what they were doing. But now they’re whispering behind hands and pointing at Chloe, who still hasn’t moved.

 

Sabrina looks over at Chloe, a bit nervous. “U-um, Chloe? Are you alri-“

 

“That piece of trash thinks… actually thinks that she can get away with that…?” Chloe growls, eyes flashing.

 

Sabrina would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little scared in that moment. “W-well of course not… But-“

 

“BUT?!” Chloe suddenly shouts, surprising Sabrina. “BUT WHAT?! She humiliated me! She has to pay!” Chloe exclaims.

 

Sabrina winces at Chloe’s screaming and tries to calm her down. “C-Chloe, p-please don’t do anything too rash-“

 

“Rash?!” Chloe starts swearing every swear word in the French language.

 

Sabrina nervously looks around at the people pointing and laughing at Chloe’s little temper tantrum. “Y-you really sh-should stop. There are people staring-“

 

Chloe whips her head up and shouts, “ENOUGH! Or I’ll have my Daddy imprison all of you!” Collectively, shutting everybody up.

 

A few beats pass before Chloe eyes widen and an idea strikes her. Sabrina stares, confused, as Chloe’s mouth twists into a smirk and regains her composure. “I know exactly what to do…”

 

Chloe wraps her arm around Sabrina’s shoulder and starts telling Sabrina her little plan. As Chloe talks, Sabrina’s mouth turns into a smirk, twin to Chloe’s. 

 

“You’re a genius…”

* * *

Marinette gets to the pool and starts looking everywhere for Alya. It’s quite challenging, given the fact that their are so many people there. Luckily, it seems like everyone forgot about what happened earlier with herself, Chloe, Adrien, and Sabrina. 

 

Thinking of Adrien, Marinette doesn’t see him anywhere. She looked over at the shooting set earlier but couldn’t spot him. She assumes he left and the shoot might already been done. After all, she was gone for a while. She can’t help but feel sad for his possible exit. 

 

She shakes her head and focuses back on the task at hand. Finding Alya.

 

Marinette looks everywhere for her but can’t seem to find her, which only makes her more worried. She decides to shoot Nino a quick text asking where he is so she can join him before heading over to the hut to retrieve her stuff. But as she’s walking towards the hut, she sees Marco step out of the hut and call out her name.

 

“Marinette! Mio angelo!” Marinette feels a bit of dread creep into her as sees him approach her.

 

“Yes, Marc-“ She gets cut off as Marco suddenly hugs her.

 

“Mio angelo! Are you ok? Did those ragazze cattive hurt you? They will pay for this! Oh il mio povero angelo!” Marco ranted on whilst suffocating Marinette.

 

“Marco! I’m alright,” Marinette says, trying to shake him off so she can get her stuff and find Alya.

 

Marco pulls Marinette back and examins her for any injury, his face scrunched up in concentration.

 

Marinette laughs, touched by his concern. “They only pushed me into the pool. I’m fine now.”

 

Marco reluctantly lets go of Marinette, “Good. A beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn’t have to deal with such diavoli.”

 

Marinette’s cheeks tint pink at the comment, not exactly knowing what he’s saying. After all, she doesn’t speak Italian. “Thank you, Marco.”

 

Marco suddenly breaks into a big smirk and cackles, “Hehehe… I wasn’t the only one. Signore Agreste was too.”

 

Marinette’s eyebrows shoot up. “He was?”

 

“Oh yes. He was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, worried about you. Oh! And you should’ve heard what he said to those wenches after you left. I never knew Signore Agreste could be so frightening. I’m surprised they didn’t piss themselves.”

 

Marinette was shell-shocked. She couldn’t believe that Adrien was worried about her to such an extent and that he was currently looking all over for her. She feels her whole face warm at the thought.

 

Marco claps his hands, remembering something. “Ah! Here are the clothes you left in the hut, mio angelo. And you can keep the current clothes you are wearing,” he says before reaching down for a bag, which he dropped when he hugged Marinette.

 

“O-oh! You don’t ha-“

 

Marco cuts her off and pushes the bag towards her. “My treat, mio angelo.”

 

Wanting to get back to finding Alya, she quickly takes the bag and thanks him.

 

“Now I suggest you go find Signore Agreste and reassure him that you’re alright.”

 

Marinette winces, “Actually, I’m looking for a friend of mine. Have you seen a tan girl, brown and red ombre hair, hazel eyes, fairly tall, moll-“

 

“Above her right eyebrow?” Marco finishes.

 

Marinette quickly nods, hoping he knows where Alya is.

 

“She came by just a while ago. Now that I think about it, she looked like she was searching for someone. Maybe it was you?”

 

Marinette frowns in confusion. “Do you happen to know where you last saw her?”

 

Marco points to an ice cream bar in the food area. “Over there if I remember correctly.”

 

“Thank you so much! Bye!” Marinette gives Marco a quick hug before dashing off.

 

“Addio, mio angelo!” Marco waves until she’s out of site before heading back to the hut.

 

“Signore Agreste, she’s gone,” Marco says as he enters to find Adrien sitting on a couch, face in his hands.

 

Marco sighs when he’s met with silence from the model. He walks by the others in the hut and stands, arms crossed, in front of Adrien.

 

“I know that I don’t know all the details, but you need to put an end to this,” he says, seriously. But Adrien doesn’t move or say anything.

 

Marco tries again. “She’s a wonderful girl, you know. She doesn’t deserve this. You don’t deserve her.” But he’s met with nothing, again.

 

“The longer you stretch this out, the worse the outcome will be,” he sighs, before leaving Adrien. 

 

_What am I doing?_ Adrien thinks, heart heavy.

* * *

 

“Marinette!” Marinette hears a familiar voice as she’s rushing around the ice cream bar, ignoring the weird looks people give her.

 

“Alya?!” Marinette perks up, looking everywhere before she sees a familiar bob of ombre hair rushing towards her. “Alya!”

 

“Marinette!”

 

They both rush towards each other before hugging the ever-living shit of each other.

 

“Alya! What the hell happened to you?! I thought you were going to talk to Nino for a few then come back!” Marinette bellows before she lets go of her best friend and narrows her eyes.

 

Alya laughs sheepishly. “Heh, I kind of lost track of time. But when I came back to the swim shop you where gone!”

 

“Yeah, that’s because I went to the pool looking for you and/or Nino!” Marinette exclaims.

 

Alya’s eyes water before hugging Marinette again. “Awww! You went to an extremely crowded pool and put aside your fear just for meeee,” she says and grins cheekily.

 

Marinette rolls her eyes and pats Alya on the back. “Yeah yeah yeah. But why didn’t you go back to Nino at the pool, get your phone, and call me?”

 

“I was on my way! But then I bumped into Sabrina and she said that you went towards the food area. I thought I should go quickly get you and then go get my phone. Imagine the surprise I had when I couldn’t find you and realized Sabrina lied,” she sarcastically drawled.

 

“I can’t believe you actually believed her.”

 

“I was desperate! I assumed you wouldn’t be at the pool so I had no idea where you went. Not having my phone didn’t help.”

 

“Do you still not have your phone?” Marinette frowns.

 

“No, I’m assuming Nino has it,” Alya replies.

 

Marinette nods before shooting Nino a text where they are and to come bring Alya her phone.

 

“So, I heard a short, dark-haired girl, with a banging body and wearing a certain outfit,” Alya gestures to what Marinette’s wearing, “was supposed to model with the famous Adrien Agreste,” Marinette opens her mouth to explain but gets cut off, “AND that said girl told off Chloe and Sabrina.”

 

Alya notices Marinette trying to hide a smile and says, “Uuuhhh huh, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do once we get to Mylene’s new place.”

 

Marinette sighs, knowing that once Alya and Mylene find out everything, so will the rest of her friends. Not that she has problem with them knowing. It’s the never-ending teasing she’ll surely receive from them.

 

“Alright, alright. Lets go get your phone first,” she says, spotting Nino jogging over to them.

 

“God… his muscles… Marinette, his muscles,” Alya says, fanning herself slightly.

 

Marinette rolls her eyes and mumbles, “So thirsty.”

 

Alya smirks slightly. “Like you didn’t orgasm on the spot when you saw Adrien,” she says before jogging towards Nino.

 

“Alya!”

* * *

 

Later, at Mylene’s house, Marinette goes to change her clothes after swimming around with Alya and Mylene. 

 

“Come on, Dupain-Cheng! We don’t have all day! There’s food down here!” Marinette hears Alya jokingly shout.

 

“Yes, ma’am!” Marinette laughs back.

 

She quickly gets pulls her clothes out of the bag and starts changing. Once done changing, she notices a piece of paper at the bottom of the bag. She grabs it and skims over it, the hair on her neck raising as her brain processes each word. Each. Damned. Word.

 

Marinette dimly registers Mylene knock on the bathroom door and say, “Mari? What’s taking so long?” 

 

Marinette feels the cold grip on her heart tighten. She slowly opens up the door and says nothing.

 

Mylene stares at her, worried. “What’s wrong?”

 

Marinette hands her the note without saying anything. 

 

Mylene reads the note before gasping and pulling Marinette in a hug. “Oh Marinette… God, I’m so sorry. Lets go get Alya and talk about this.”

 

Marinette silently mumbles back, “Alright.”

 

They trot downstairs to see Alya and 5 boxes of pizza and 3 bottles of alcohol surrounding her. “Heeyyy! What took you two so long…?” Alya trails off, sensing the mood.

 

“Hey, what’s up?” she asks, walking up towards the both of them.

 

Marinette sighs before handing the note to Alya and letting her read it.

 

Now, Alya feels like going on a good ol’ fashion murder spree. Maybe take a bath in her victims blood and then feast on their insides. It sounds like a good way to soothe her anger. Actually no, this isn’t anger she’s feeling. Oh no, no, no. Not even close. This is a whole new level of rage that Alya can’t explain. 

 

“ ‘Watch your back, Ladybug. ~Chat Noir’? That filthy piece of-!“ Alya starts cursing heavily, the words burning her tongue as she screams them. 

 

Marinette tries calming her friend down. “Alya! Listen, I don’t think-” 

 

“Don’t you dare tell my you’re gonna defend him! What he said and this little game he’s playing is unacceptable!” Alya exclaims.

 

Mylene nods. “Alya’s right, Mari. Whatever Chat is playing at, isn’t right.”

 

“Exfuckingactly!” Alya nods.

 

“But I really don’t think it’s him! And can you give me a minute to explain?” Marinette quickly adds, seeing Alya’s mouth open to spout some more curses.

 

“Fine. Your 60 seconds start now,” Alya states.

 

“Ok, so remember when I said that I was talking to Nino before my stand off with Chloe?” Alya and Mylene nod, “While I was talking to him, I found out that he knows who Chat Noir is.”

 

“What?!” Mylene and Alya cry out.

 

“And he said that Chat Noir doesn’t know who I am! So wouldn’t that mean that Chat didn’t send the notes? And I don’t think he’s lying, I trust him,” Marinette quickly finishes, not giving her friends a chance.

 

Mylene and Alya gape at her, not believing what they just heard. 

 

Mylene breaks the silence. “Marinette does have a point…”

 

“NINO THAT FUCKER! I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!” 

* * *

 

Somewhere on the other side of Paris, Nino’s phone starts buzzing. “What the-?” He suddenly sneezes, cutting himself off.

 

“Bless you,” Adrien says, pressing the some buttons on his video game controller.

 

Nino pauses the game. “Hold on bro, my phone’s blowing up. The hell is this…?”

 

Adrien looks over at Nino. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Uhhh, we might have a problem.”

 

“Problem? What is it?” Adrien asks, frowing.

 

“Alya knows that I know that you’re Chat Noir.”

 

Adrien jumps up. “What?! How does she know?!”

 

Nino laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Weeellllll, you seeeee it’s a funny story really.”

 

Adrien grabs Nino’s collar and pulls him up so their faces are inches from each other. “How funny?”

 

Nino sputters out, “U-um I might’ve maybe sorta kinda told Marinette that I know who you are. So I’m assuming she told Alya.”

 

Adrien drops Nino before bellowing, “You told Marinette?! How did this happen? NINO. GET. BACK. HERE.” He pulls Nino, who was trying to escape the upcoming hell Adrien will rain upon him, back towards the couch.

 

“Now Alya knows! And you know Alya. Since she knows that you know, she’ll stop at nothing to dig it out of you.”

 

“I know! I guess it just sort of slipped out?!”

 

“How can something like that just ‘slip out’?!”

 

“I-I don’t know?! But I didn’t tell her who you are! In fact, I had to lie to her and tell her that I don’t know who you are. And you know I hate lying.”

 

Adrien looks away, anger vanishing. “I’m sorry, Nino. I know that that was hard for you and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” 

 

Nino pats Adrien’s back. “It’s chill, man. Sorry for letting it slip out.”

 

Adrien sighs. “It’s alright.”

 

The silence stretches for a bit before Nino makes a noise akin to disgust. “Ugh, enough with this mushy stuff. We’re men! Let’s get back to shooting these bastards up.”

 

Adrien chuckles and picks up his controller before plopping down, next to Nino, on the couch. “Alright.”

 

A few moments go by before Nino says, “You know, she’ll have to find out eventually.”

 

As always, Adrien doesn’t reply.

 

“Will you be ready to face the consequences when she does find out?”

 

No reply.

 

“You should’ve never started this.”

 

Nothing.

 

“You’re a dumbass. I hope you know that,” Nino finishes.

 

Adrien kills the final enemy before staring at Nino with such pain, so much that Nino feels his own heart constrict, in his eyes and such a heart-wrenching smile. 

 

“You have no idea.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed my story! Review and if you have any advice that would be great! I would really love to hear what I can do to improve.  
> Have a nice day lovelies~  
> THE OUTFITS  
> Marinette’s dress: www.luxfashionzone.com/trendy-cute-short-black-and-red-dresses-for-teenagers/  
> Alya’s dress: cdn.lulus.com/images/product/xlarge/1433666_225786.jpg  
> Marinette’s mask: img.costumecraze.com/images/vendors/forum/64503-Red-Lace-Mask-large.jpg  
> Alya’s mask: s615.photobucket.com/user/Dorabella/media/Masks/MASK063_th3.jpg.html


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